Lion King:Man discovers the Pridelands
by Nuker850
Summary: Charles Harrison, a 17 year old lad loses his family in a trip to Africa. While searching for civilization, Charles stumbles upon a pride of lions...that talk. His unintentional discovery of the Pridelands will cause a chain reaction of visitors to the land. Note: This is a bit Sci-fi since the events here occur during the 2070s-80s.
1. Chapter 1

**Note:I do not own The Lion King, only the characters from my story Great War 2068-2087 . Lion King and its characters belongs to Disney.**

 **Hello!This is my first time making a fanfiction, so i'm open to suggestions and constructive criticisms about my story so I can improve. Note that most stories I will create is mostly mixed with my own story, Great War 2068-2087. This will be the first chapter and hope you will enjoy it!**

 **Warning:Every character here in my story are completely fictional characters.**

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 **Somewhere in the African savannah,Kenya, 2072**

Its been more than 10 hours already and I still can't find a village nor any trace of civilization. I thought as he keeps wandering through the savannah. My supplies of food and water are starting to ran out, couldn't find any trees or plants that grew anything edible.

Despite rationing them, it still couldn't stop the pains of hunger that is starting to feel in my stomach. I'm also starting feel the need to rehydrate my thirst. I thought in my mind as I emptied my first bottle of water,luckily I still have another one.

I hope my supplies could last enough until I reach a village or some place of civilization, I thought as I keep walking the trail.

After 5 hours, I already drank half of my last water bottle and my packet of beef jerky is running out aswell. The sores and injuries that I haven't patched yet are starting to grew worse.

I check my bag for some bandages, but unfortunately I only have two left.

Dangit, I should have brought more bandages. I grab the two last bandages and use it to patch the minor wounds. After I managed to patch the wounds up, I resume my journey to find civilization.

After another hour of walking, I realized it was night already. Fireflies glowing in the night. With the moon and stars illuminating above, so I decided to look for a place to rest.

I managed to find a suitable place, I sat down and rummage through my bag to find my blanket that I packed with me just incase.

I lie down in the flat grass and wrap myself around the blanket. Thoughts suddenly popping in my head about what just happened today, suddenly remembering something I don't want to think about.

I tried to forget about the tragic and traumatizing events that happened previously by persuading my self to sleep. As I was starting to drift to my slumber, I just hope that I won't dream about it.

But to no avail, my mind betrayed me.

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 **Okay so that was mein first chapter, I hope you enjoyed it! I'm open to suggestions, ideas, and constructive criticism, as i have said previously. Anyway thank you for reading this chapter and there's (probably) more next! Have a great day!(Sorry for the very short first chapter)**


	2. Chapter 2: Plane Crash

**Hello!This will be my second chapter of this chapter will be about what happened to Charles and his family and how he got lost in Africa. I may also provide some information about the timeline. And I would like to thank X-Siri and Guest for reviewing the first chapter of my story!Hope you will enjoy this chapter!**

It was supposed to be a two and a half week trip to Africa for a safari with my family, never did I realized this will be last time I will be spending with them.

 **15 hours ago** , **August 14, 2072**

"Charles, Charles" a familiar voice called my name.

"Charles, wake up"the voice called me again.

I finally woke up and see who it is, it was my Mother.

"Charles , dear wake up now" my Mother told me, just as when I was about to reply to her...

"This is the captain speaking, we are approximately 40 minutes before we will arrive to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Thank you."

"But, mum it will be 40 minutes before we will even arrive at the airport" I replied to her

"I wake you up so you can prepare your things and check if there's anything you might forget in the plane"Mother said to me as I finally complied her.

"You might also not want to miss the scenery" My father informed me as I was checking my bag

"Alright"I said as I continue inspecting my bag, making everything is there."Okay, I think that's pretty much everything." After I finished checking my bag, I look out the the window and saw the scenery.

What I saw left me in awe; The Sun shining through the tan grass, various animals scattered over the savannah. A herd of Elephants drinking at a river, Gazelles stotting through the grasslands, Rhinos and hippos swimming in the water, and other species of animals doing their usual activities. Currents of streams and rivers embellish the lands,and some luscious greenlands and jungles. It was incredibly beautiful.

"Amazing isn't it?"My dad said as he joined in on looking at the view. "It will be even more splendid once we reach our destination"

"So, how was the ongoing conflict between the CoN[1] and the UIA[2] ?" My mum asked my dad as they continue their conversation. "Well, the UIA is at it again, we managed to push them back east of the falkland islands last month, but there were reports from the CBFSAI[3] there being attacked by a few squads of UIA regiments mostly composed of infantry and technicals."

"Do you think there are sympathisers among the residents there?"

"Yes, there are definitely partisans and sympathisers assisting the UIA soldiers, our platoon will be deployed back again to assist the royal marines stationed there next month" he added "Our unit will be tationed there for around two to three months

"That means you'll be very busy again for another three months, right?"mum asked in a concerned tone.

"Yes, but don't worry after a couple of months i'll be back, probably on November and just in time before December"My dad assured her

My mom and dad had been married for 18 years. I don't fully remember how they met, but i'm just gonna summarize it and other information about my life. My dad, Karl Harrison was born on July 17, 2029 in Frankfurt, Germany while my mother, Maria Williams was born in May 24, 2026 in Bristol, South West England. My father joined the Royal Marines after he finished college and my mother continued studying zoology and biology for 4 more years, after that she joined the British Armed Forces as a medic. My mother and father met during the Battle of Sennelager[4] during the year 2051. After that, they started dating a few months after the battle. My parents were married during 2053, after that they moved to Portsmouth, Hampshire on the south coast of England. On November 23, 2054, Charles W. Harrison was born. My father was stationed at the HMNB Portsmouth. After 5 years my sister, Sophie Harrison was born. On July 28,2063, my youngest sibling, Albert Harrison was finally born. My father was moved into the reserves on November 16,2068 and will be called upon duty if need.

He also managed to find a job as a combat trainer for the OverEye Industries[5], where my also works as a researcher and zoologist and occasionally sent to Africa with other researchers for 2-4 months. However, our grandparents stay with us whenever our parents are busy. Mom used to tell us about her trip to Africa whenever she came back about what she saw; the herds of animals throughout the lands, the Elephants, the Cheetahs, the Hippos, Lions and other fascinating creatures, and the beautiful rivers and waterfalls that beautify the place. I got fascinated about Africa and its wildlife from all the stories she tell when she was there.

On August 11, 2072, my father managed to plan a vacation to Africa for the whole family. Of course, me and my siblings were very excited,especially Albert, oh how he loved the lions whenever he saw it on TV or the zoo. Dad gave us two days to prepare our things and give our goodbyes to our friends and relatives. However, I asked my parents about who will take care of our dog while we're gone. Luckily, one of our uncle is going to stay at our house for a few weeks. I said my farewells to my friends including, Ryan and the girl I was dating for more than a month, Sarah Phillips, oh how i'll miss her. I was 6th Grade when I met one of my best friends till now, Ryan MacCormack. Ryan and his family came from Belfast, Ireland and moved to Portsmouth, England. He had two brothers; Conor MacCormack, the older brother, and Fergus MacCormack, the youngest brother.

"Bro could you please help me get my water in the bag?" my little brother asked me.

"Alright, which pocket did you put it in?" I asked rummaging through the bag to find his water bottle.

"It's on the biggest one" I finally found it "Here you go"I said as I give him the water"Thanks!"

He said as he chug down the water.

As I continued to have countless thoughts in my mind, I suddenly felt a sensation. A urge to relief myself,"May I go to the restroom?"i asked my mother, feeling the urge increasing every second "Sure"

I got off from my seat and went to the restroom. People were doing their own things and just minding their own business, some were chatting with each other, some kids playing their toys, others taking a nap, and reading magazines or books from the back of the seat as I made my way to the toilet. I managed to reach the restroom, only to found out there was someone in it. I waited for a few minutes and finally, the person using it stepped out of the door. "Oh my, apologies for the long wait" the lady said as she got out of the toilet "Oh no, it's okay" I responded, I could finally use the toilet. After I finished and began walking my way back to my seat, I suddenly hear something. It sounds similar to the jet engine of the plane but a lot more different. I dreaded the sound of what I was hearing...

a missile.

 ***Explosion***

I was knocked out of my feet as I realized our plane has been hit by a missile attack. The passengers started panicking, Flight attendants scrambling to their seats and some helping the other passengers get to their seats. Oxygen masks started dropping for the passengers.

One of the flight attendant approached me "Sir, you need to get back to your..."She didn't finished her sentence as she lost her footing from the turbulence. I looked out the window and saw the right wing was burning, some plane parts started tearing apart. Soon, it started creating a hole near the area where me and my family were seating. The hole starting increasing as parts and debris starting flying away from the strong pressure. Some unfortunate were tossed out of the plane because of the powerful strength of the pressure. Soon me and the flight attendant was starting to get sucked by the pressure. She was about to get pulled out of the plane but luckily, managed to grab hold of one of the seats. But she won't last long if she cannot get out of the way of the pressure, I quickly get up to my feet to aid her, gripping every seat while making my way to her, to prevent myself from getting sucked out by the compression. I managed to help her get out of the way, "Thank you" she said while breathing heavily from what is happening now. "Your welcome, now please you've gotta go back to your seat"I said, she managed to get back to her seat safely.

After helping her from her near-death experience, I was the one being absorbed by the force. I tried to grip anything that could stop it, but to little avail. I was nearly about to get tossed out of plane but fortunately, I managed to grip on a damaged fuselage. I found out that the plane is reducing altitude about 2,300-2,500 feet, we are now about 1,000 feet, which means we're probably near the height of the surrounding hills. I held on with my whole strength, I suddenly saw a hand reach out to me. "Son, take my hand!" my dad shouted as he frantically tried to help me. I desperately tried to reach it, but the extreme pressure prevented me from doing so. I saw my mother tightly hugging my brother and sister, my father trying his best to grasp my hand. I soon realize this is one of the fears that I have always dread, this may be last time that I will see my family. I held on it with the best I can, but it was all in vain.

Charles was soon sucked out of the plane, as he was starting to fall out of the plane. He was falling about 400 feet above a steep slope on top of a hill. Expecting every of his bones to break from the , he managed to survive the fall, but that doesn't mean the impact isn't painful. Charles rolled down the slope after the impact, hitting branches and rocks. The rolling was able to stop after reaching the end the slope.

I could feel pain in almost every part of my body as I lie down at the ground. I could see the plane flying through the horizon, leaving smoke on its trail, before I plunged into unconsciousness.

I opened my eyes to found myself in a savannah, alone. As I try to stand up, I could feel stings of pain in my body. I studied my surroundings, grasslands and trees, a few herd of animals, and a few other vegetations. I stand up, still feeling a pain in some parts of my body. I assess what the situation is right now, We're just on our way to our trip, our plane got hit by a missile, I got separated by my family and now I'm stranded in Africa, with barely any trace of civilization. To my surprise, I find my bag just near me. Must have fell off the plane as well.

I checked my bag to see if my possessions were still there: A few bottles of water and snacks, a compass, sadly its broken from the fall, my pocket watch, swiss army knife, bandages, extra clothes, and oddly a blanket. A grab some bandages to patch my wounds, luckily most are minor wounds.

After I finished treating with most of my wounds, I started walking to find help. My mind somehow told me to go west, so I continued my way heading west. Hoping to find villages or natives.

While I was walking, I'm have a mental argument with my mind.

 _ **You're going to die, just like your family**_

 _No! I'm not going to die_

 _ **Oh yes you will, not now, not soon , but it will come**_

 _No, I'm not gonna give up, not yet_

I continued my way, ignoring those thoughts in my mind. Hoping I could survive as long as I can, until I could find civilization

 **Hello! I sincerely apologize for the long wait, I have been very busy for these weeks since it's the resume of my classes since the last two weeks. That means it may took a long while to update the story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Note: I do not own the Lion King characters, Lion King and its characters belong to Disney. I ownly own the Ocs. Every character and event here are also fictional, it is completely coincidence if this ever occur in the future.**

 **I'm also open to suggestions and criticisms.**

 **Information about the story:**

 **[1] The CoN or the Coalition of Nations is an international organization composed of most countries like USA, UK, Russia, Germany, Japan, China, and some other countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa. It has it's own multinational army, The UNATF( Not to be confused with the UN).**

 **[2] The UFN or the United of Independent Alliance is a multinational organization originally with a full fascist ideology. Specifically against Eastern European and Middle Eastern Races. However during the 2080s their fascist behaviour is weakened and dying, they even started recruiting people with Eastern European and Middle Eastern ethnicity. The cause of desperate recruitment because of their heavy casualties of manpower during the war against CoN forces and other nation's armies. They're usually located at some areas in Africa, Middle East and even on other parts of the Mindanao region and some secluded islands in the Philippines.**

 **Note: I do not have anything against the Eastern European and Middle Eastern people, please don't be offended.**

 **[3] CBSFAI- Commander of the British Forces South Atlantic Islands.**

 **[4] The Battle of Sennelager May 14, 2051 is a battle between British and Bundeswehr forces against a anti-technological extremist group called the New Order of Neo-Luddites in the village of Sennelager. British casualties were 20 and 22 injured, the Bundeswehr have 16 and 26 injured, while the Neo-Luddites have 61 and 23 wounded and captured. Resulting in the retreat of the remaining Neo-Luddites fighters and victory of The British and the Germans.**

 **[5] OverEye Industries is a private industry corporation. Originally a private military company, OverEye security was lately changed into OverEye Industries. Not only providing security and armed services, they also started providing technological services and research. The company also was the first one that manage to create new advance technology and scientific development, like the more powerful upgrade of the SMTS** **(Special Medical Treatment Serum)** **, the AMV(Advance Medical Vial) during 2082, the original vaccine can only regenerate damaged tissue, but the upgrade could also help cure infection and can even fix broken bones. And lastly, they were also secretly part of the PTAS (Private Technological Armed Solidarity). I'll explain about the faction in the later parts of the story.**


	3. Chapter 3: Stumbling upon the Pridelands

**Hello! This will be the third chapter. I hope you will enjoy this chapter! I also forgot to tell you something. What inspired me to do this fanfiction, were fanfictions of several authors, including Sharks Potter's Lion King Pride of Humanity, SimbaFan's The Pride of Man, A Lion of a Man, and the Heart of Man, fanfics LK: Into the Pride, LK II: Heart of a Champion, and it's part: LK III: We'll be Remembered, Preliators and many more wonderful fanfictions that I've seen.**

 **For the people who haven't read this stories, I highly recommend you to check those out (Not forcing you though) .Unfortunately, most of this great stories are usually in a halt, some more than a year. And that's why it aspired me to finally create my own fanfic story, mixed with a story of mine, the Great War 2068-2087.**

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 **Somewhere in the regions of Africa, is a peaceful and majestic land. Abundant grasslands, streaming rivers and waterfalls enrich the beautiful land. Right in the middle of it is a huge rock shaped like a L with a rock protruding out of it. Dozens of animals live in the place, Lions, Elephants, Cheetahs, Leopards, Hippos, Rhinos and many more animals of various species. But what the arrival of a new creature they never anticipated is going to change their lives.**

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I was awaken by the gleaming sunrise, signifying another day. I gave a sigh

 _Another day in the wilderness, alone._

I started packing up a continue my walk, heading west just what like my sense told me. I suddenly felt thirsty again, I grab my water bottle and drank a few. Hoping it would last long enough for me to survive in the wilderness. I'm not feeling hungry, didn't really have the mood to eat. I looked around the area, a few antelopes, zebras and birds, nothing much. Luckily, no hungry predators.

A few minutes later, the thoughts started popping in my mind again.

 _ **You're going to die**_

 _ **No matter how hard you try, it will all just be in vain**_

 _ **You're just going to die in the end**_

 _No, not yet. Not this time, I'm not going to give up_

I persisted the thoughts that keep breaching through my mind

 **10 hours later**

I've been walking for more than 8 hours, and still no sight of villages or any people. Now I really feel hungry, I manage to find a good spot to rest under a tree. I grab another ration from my bag and started eating. After I finished. I stand up and continue my trek to find help.

 **6 weeks later**

Days of searching started becoming weeks, I was getting desperate. My food and water rations are starting to ran out, soon I will need to hunt for food or search for trees that have edible fruits.

Suddenly, the voice came back from my mind.

 _ **Ha! Told you you're going to die anyway!**_

 _No, I'm still not gonna give up_

 _ **Give up now! You're still going to die anyway, or possibly succumb to craziness.**_

I try to ignore the voice from my thought, but it's no use.

 _ **Come on give up now!**_

 _No!_

 _ **Yes!**_

 _Will you just please shut-_

My thoughts were interrupted as I heard some commotion. I checked and to my joy, an injured antelope.

Its legs look weak and possibly could not run that fast anymore. I grab my swiss army knife from my bag, and switch to the modified blade in it.

Quietly moving closer to the antelope, not knowing it was stalked by someone. I readied my knife, hoping I could land a spot at the neck.

 _Hope this works_

I immediately lunge at the injured antelope, it starts thrashing around to try get me off of it. I hold on tightly on its back, and I start thrusting the knife on its neck. I keep stabbing and stabbing, blood started

gushing out of it. And finally, it fell to the ground. I got off of its back and take off my backpack. And started slicing a piece of meat from it. I started wondering what antelopes taste like.

 _Hmmm, oh who cares, atleast I can finally eat something already._

As I was trying to start a fire, I suddenly heard manic laughing behind the grass behind me.

I looked behind and was terrified at what I saw, _Hyenas_. Not only one but four of them, hunger showing on their faces.

"Well look what we got here. Not only can we have one meal for lunch, but two of them. Hondo and the other hyenas are going to be happy about this." . Wait, did he just talk.

Not only was I terrified, I was also filled with surprise.

 _Did it just talk?! I must be losing my mind_

Soon, the hyenas started advancing towards me. I quickly grab my knife to defend myself. One of the hyenas try to lunge at me, I quickly slashed his throat. The hyena that tried to attack me was breathing heavily until it had its last breath. A second one tried to lunge at me too, not realizing the first hyena's mistake. My quick reaction made me dodge its attack and the hyena faceplanted on the ground.

I quickly use this opportunity to stab him in the back before he manage to recover. Piercing through his spinal cord, killing it immediately. The third hyena lunge at me also, this time he managed to pin me down. Unable to quickly react on the attack, the hyena's mouth is just inches near me.

I suddenly hear voices nearby, the voices sound feminine. The hyenas were distracted as well, I used this chance and stab the hyena on top of me in the forehead. I quickly move the carcass off me. I stood up and found the last one to be nowhere, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my back, I yelped in pain and surprise. The hyena's claws dug through my back, still latching on my back.I tried to resist the pain, going as far as gritting my teeth. I plunge my knife into his right hind leg, making him lose his grip on my back. Blood seeping out of the wounds on my back. He turned around swiftly and strike me through the chest, creating another grunt of pain from me. Before I manage to recover, he lunged at me and I was knocked off the ground. I hold his jaw from me as best I can, to prevent myself from being the hyena's next meal. I saw my knife beside me , I tried to reach it while at the same time holding back the hyena from biting my face off. I finally managed to reach it and plunge it through the hyena's stomach. Staining my shirt with its blood, making my shirt nearly full red.

I threw the body off of me, I could feel pain in every single part of my body. Some gashes and wounds on my back and chest, a few cuts as well. I feel extremely exhausted, I saw the giant rock and heard the voices again. People, finally after weeks of walking I could finally get help.

"Help! Help me! I need help!" I collapsed on the ground from exhaustion and pain. Rustles came from the grass, I could see movement. But what came out left me frozen in fear, a lioness.

 _The whole time I was seeking help from a lion. Great, now I'm going be a lion's lunch instead of hyenas. Oh well, atleast I could join my family now_

Here I am in the ground, waiting for it to maul me to death. Oddly, it just stares at me, a face of curiousity and confusion.

Then everything fades into darkness.

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 **Well, that was Chapter 3. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I may take a while to post chapters again, but I will try my best to write more chapters as possible as I can. I have also started adapting the use of horizontal lines.**

 **Have a great day!**

 **Additional information(I forgot to write in the last chapter)**

 **Charles' father, Karl Harrison is with British-German ancestry. His father a British and his mother a German.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello! This will be the fourth chapter. I must thank Guest, Jack905 , X-Siri and LionKingisAwesome for the reviews! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!**

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 **While ago...**

 **In the huge rock, is a cave where a pride of lions live. Near the rock were three lionesses and a hornbill taking a walk.**

"Your highness, are you sure you don't want to take a rest? We have been strolling around the pridelands for hours" The hornbill asked one of the lioness that is the queen.

"Don't worry Zazu I'll take a rest soon" replied the queen.

" Wait...did you hear that?" Their escort lioness looked around, searching for the noise she heard.

The noise came from the tall grass near them.

"Queen Sarabi, Sarafina, you return to the priderock first, I'll investigate the noise" the lioness said as she went to the grass

As she went in the grass, there was a very familiar smell. The further she went, the more familiar it became. _Hyenas_

"Hyenas...they're in the pridelands" She need to warn the others.

She turned around and luckily found Sarabi and Sarafina walking back to the priderock.

"Hyenas! Hyenas! They're in the pridelands!" she shouted, hoping they would hear her warning.

As the two were heading back to the priderock, they heard someone shouting behind them

"Did you hear that?" Sarafina asked, wondering if her friend heard it too.

They turned around and found their escort shouting to them "Hyenas! They're in the pridelands!"

"Zazu, get help quickly!" The majordomo quickly flew away to the priderock.

She continue further into the grass. A howl of pain can be heard after that, silence. Then there was a cry for help.

"Help! Help me! I need help!"

I came out of the grass, to find several hyena corpses, a dead antelope and a... hairless ape of some sort lying on the ground. He was just there staring at me with signs of fear on his face before he blacked out. I move closer to it so I can examine him closely, the ape is actually a male, he is heavily wounded with several wounds and cuts on his chest and back.

"Is everything alright" she looked back to find the king of pridelands accompanied by two lionesses

"King Mufasa" the lioness bowed before the king "Everything's alright my king, but you've got to see this"

"Do you recognize this creature, sire?" She gestured toward the unconsciousness man.

The king approached it and was shocked of what the creature is.

"That, is a human"

"A human?! Then we must kill it before it endangers our lands!" The lioness that spoke started baring its fangs at the human.

"Leave it alone Zira! It is only a youngling and besides, he is injured and he needs help" the former escort of the queen and Zira were starting to have an argument.

"It will soon grow up in the future and it may kill us all if he ever gets the chance!"

"Silence!" The king roared in order to stop the two from arguing, "Xyrisse is correct, this one needs treatment from Rafiki, bring him to the Priderock and call the shaman"

"Xyrisse, may I ask if you're the one who killed these hyenas?" The king asked

"No, I believe it is the human who killed them"

Upon closer inspection, the king was shocked to realize the identity of one of the hyenas

"It's incredible, he killed Fela, one of the subordinates of Hondo!"the king exclaimed, everyone was shocked. This is going to be a great news for the pride.

Charles woke up, he opened his eyes. He could still feel pain in his back and chest, and he was lying on

a hard ground. He checked his surroundings, he was in a cave. The entrance of the cave provided some illumination by the sunlight. A crevice on the ceiling of the cave providing some light as well.

He noticed he has a odd orange substance spreaded on his chest.

As he tried to stand up, the pain stopped him from doing so.

"Hold still, you still have injuries. You need to take a rest and recover at this moment" a female voice came from the cave.

He obey her and lie down again. "That was one heck of a dream I just had" He noticed a silhoutte near him in the cave.

"So, was it a good dream?" she asked. "Nope, it was a nightmare, got separated with my family during a plane crash, got lost in the wild, and got nearly killed by hyenas" he chuckled "Even one hyena talked, some weird and scary dream it was"

"No, it was actually true, you killed four hyenas and got wounded at the process. Luckily, we managed to bring you back to the priderock and get you treated by Rafiki"

"Wait...what!?" The silhoutte stepped out of the dark corner, revealing to be a lioness, Charles immediately jump up in fear at the sight. He panicked and moved farther away from the lioness.

"Get away from me!" He shouted, trying to avoid the lioness.

"Calm down, you must rest or your wounds might become worse"she tried to calm Charles down, but it rather made it worse.

"Calm down...Calm down!? Lions aren't supposed to talk. You should be mauling me to death, you are a lioness. A talking one in fact!" Charles exclaimed, thinking he is losing his mind.

"Great, I'm talking to a lioness, I must be crazy" He sat down and started laughing in the way an insane person would. He could feel madness starting to consume his sanity.

"What is all the commotion going on?" A powerful voice came from the entrance cave. A large male lion with two lionesses beside him was at the entrance of the cave.

"Ah, I see you are awake now. You're lucky one of the queen's escort, Xyrisse managed to find you before you lose more blood from your wounds" after informing Charles about what just happened earlier, the lion took on a more serious tone "Anyway, I am king Mufasa, ruler of the pridelands and this is my mate, Sarabi. May I ask who are you and what are your intentions in the pridelands?"

" My name is Charles Harrison, me and my family were supposed to have a vacation in Africa, but our plane got attacked and I got separated with them during the crash. I tried to look for help and on the way, stumbled upon this place. I am now lost in this place with no idea where to go" After informing them of his intentions, their eyes turned sympathetic.

"We're sorry to hear that, we have also lost our loved ones too before. However, we were thinking if you would like to stay here as long as you want until your wounds recover" The king also added "We will also like to introduce you to the entire kingdom and the pride, so they wouldn't consider you as a prey in case"

"Thank you, but can I ask something?" they both nodded "I'm highly surprised that you and your pride didn't eat me"

The king chuckled "Xyrisse told me you need help, we also found out you were the ones who killed the hyenas. Quite impressive, you managed to defend yourself from four hyenas, one of them being Fela"

"Well thank you for the aid, but who is Fela?" Charles asked, he noticed some of the lionesses have a sorrowful face when he mentioned the name.

"Fela, was one of the subordinates of Hondo the hyena. Hondo and his gang have caused a lot of trouble for several months" the king continued "Thank you very much for killing someone who had brought pain and trouble in this lands. Well, let us introduce you to the pride first. We'll introduce you to the others when your wounds have recovered better"

The king went out and gave a loud roar, echoing throughout the pridelands. A few minutes later, several lions came in the cave. They all sat around the cave, they all faced towards Mufasa and bowed their heads. All of the lionesses have mixed looks at him, some curiosity, fear, others doubt, and a few faces of disapproval.

"Hmmm, Zazu wheres Scar?"the king asked, a blue hornbill flew beside him

"Sire, his probably in his cave again, sleeping" the horbill spoke with a british accent, the king was unhappy.

Mufasa sighed " He's late, Zazu please call-" Mufasa was cut short by a voice coming from the entrance.

"I believe you're calling me brother" the voice came from a slender lion with brownish-orange fur. When his eyes turned towards Charles, he had a glare one would have at a vermin.

"Ahh, so this is the human, didn't you say this creatures are dangerous?" he asked, moving to a spot next to Zira. Still looking at Charles, observing the human.

"You're finally here, and no, he's different from the other dangerous humans our father warned us of" the king said, finally glad that his brother is here for the announcement.

"I've called everyone in the pride for an important meeting, we will have this human as a new member of the pride. And from my judgement and observation, we have no reason to be afraid of him nor we should be aggressive against him"

The announcement was met with different reactions, some were reliefed, some were happy, others still have doubt and skepticism, and one lioness beside Scar that's staring me with pure hatred reacted differently.

"What!? Mufasa are you insane?! The creature that you and your father has considered very dangerous and must avoid, have now been invited to be a part of this pride by you!"

"Silence Zira! That's enough of you. When we found him near the priderock, he defended himself from four hyenas, one of them being Fela"

The pride was shocked, they now knew that the human had managed to kill one of the important members of Hondo's pack.

"Now I will decide on all of your choice. Will you all accept him as a part of our pride?" All of the lions bow except for Zira and Scar, both of them still glaring at Charles.

"What's your name?" One of the lionesses asked Charles

"My name is Charles Harrison, I lost my family during a tragic accident and now I'm far away from home. I'm stranded here with little idea on how to find my way back home. For now, I may stay here temporarily until my wounds recover." Charles continued

"I don't want to be a problem for all of you, so that's why maybe I could help you guys hunt or anything that I could do to assist in solving your problems and issues when the conditions of my wounds have gotten better."

After that, the king spoke "Alright, is there any questions you'd like to ask Charles?" Nobody said a word "If no, then you can now all go back to your recent activities"

All the lions have left the cave after the meeting, except for Mufasa, Sarabi, Zazu, and two other lionesses. One lioness approached Charles, he immediately recognized her as the one he saw before he blacked out.

"I take it you're Xyrisse right?" Charles asked the lioness

"Yes that's correct, I saw you wounded at ground from fighting the hyenas. Thank you for killing several Hyenas of Hondo's pack, especially Fela. Who has caused trouble and pain in this lands, and has taken loved ones from us " She spoke the last sentence with tears falling down her eyes.

"It's okay, you don't need to tell me. I also lost my family too recently" Charles informed her.

"Anyway thank you for helping the pride, I've got to go back now guarding the queen" She went back to accompanying Sarabi.

"So wait, you don't hunt with the others?" Charles asked.

"Before I used to hunt with them, but the king assigned me as a escort for the queen and the other pregnant lions"

"Oh ok, I guess you can go back now to your duty." With that, she went back to the queen.

Charles went back to lying down on the ground, although he find the ground quite hard to lie down comfortably. He look around and found his bag lying nearby.

 _Hmmm, they must have brought it back with me. Well that's a good thing, I'll thank them later._

He took the bag and opened it, hoping all his belongings are in there.

 _Looks like everythings it there, oh what's this?_

Charles found two books in a hidden pocket of the bag.

 _I forgot I brought this with me during the trip, atleast I have books to read for a while._

He took the books out of the bag, one is a journal and another's a novel of some sort.

My journal and... "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, this one must be my greatgrandfather's book.

He remembered his grandfather telling him about his greatgrandfather's hobby of reading books of several authors, including this one when he was a young lad just like him.

 _I'll probably read this next time, I feel tired right now._

He took his blanket from his bag and wrapped it around him, trying to make his rest at least more comfortable. He took the journal and started writing.

 _September 26, 2016_

 _The trip didn't go well as I expected it should be. Now I'm stuck in Africa and stumbled upon this huge rock, managed to hunt for food but was interrupted by hungry hyenas. Got heavily wounded at the fight against those hyenas, luckily somebody managed to rescue me. When I woke up, I thought I was saved by normal people, as in Humans. I never thought that my rescuers are lions, that has the ability to talk to humans. And they happen to actually reside in the rock, they called it the priderock. Luckily, they didn't saw me as prey. They're actually friendly, except for a few of course who still have a hint of resentment towards me. Of course they would, I'm a human. Humans have been known to be dangerous creatures by these lions, I'm just glad most of them accepted me into their pride even though I'm a human. I must be crazy or this is still a dream, a weird one perhaps. Just hope I'll soon escape from this dream, if this was ever one._

 _Charles W. Harrison_

He finished writing on the journal and return it back to his pack.

He noticed the sun setting down already, marking the start of the night.

 _I'll probably eat tomorrow, I'm not really hungry now anyway._

He started thinking about the fight earlier against the hyenas.

 _Glad my father recommended me to that training program, or else I might end up having worse injuries on the fight._

He soon drifted into his sleep.

* * *

 **Somewhere in Portsmouth, England, July 24, 2072**

 **1st Day of YS-DT program 2072**

The building was filled with young people in uniform, one of them being Charles Harrison. Two men in commandant uniforms entered the room.

"Attention Cadets! Go back to your proper positions and line up!" One of the men shouted, the cadets quickly scrambled back to their places.

"Good morning everyone, I am Commandant Cameron McGrath and this is my Assistant, Jonathan Strauss"

Seeing everyone is finally in correct order, the commandant spoke again,

"Cadets! Welcome to the Youth Self-Defense Training Program[1], where you will all learn many ways on how to defend yourselves, your loveds, your friends, and any innocent bystanders in the way of harm. I know you all want to have your leisure activities that you wanna spend on this summer holiday. But this will only last for one week, and you'll all be back to spending time with your family and friends."

"Alright Cadets! It's time to begin training, you'll first engage in hand to hand combat with your fists.

We shall start now, prepare yourselves cadets!"

And so, the training began.

 **Portsmouth, England, July 25, 2072**

 **3rd Day of YS-DT program 2072**

 _It's the third day of the program, we spent two days training our hand combat skills. Let's just say I got a few bruises, about 4 of them. All of the cadets got them anyway. Mother is not really happy about that... But hey, at least I know a few ways to defend myself and my family. I heard something from one of the cadets, Conor McCormack, who happens to be my best friend's older brother, that we'll be training the use of knives and daggers on the third day of this training. Just hope nothing goes wrong or anything unpleasant._

"Cadets! Welcome back to the camp! This will be your third day of your training, you will know utitlize the use of sharp-blade weapons. Including knives, daggers, and more sorts of them. It will include how to defend yourselves from aggressors armed with these weapons and how to counter them.

Any questions? Raise your hand if there are any questions you'd like to ask." Nobody raised their hands nor anybody spoke up.

"No? Alright! Training begins now."

The third day of training have finished, the young cadets started walking out of the building. Charles took of his cadet cap and sat on a bench, wearing an expression of distress. Soon he was joined by Conor McCormack. Apparently, Conor noticed his face

"Why the face Charles? You look like ya done something wrong" He asked, Charles' face still not changing.

"What'ya did? Stole a sweetroll? Left the dishes unclean? Committed some antics to the Führer?" The last words received an confused reaction from Charles.

"The Führer? What are we in? The 1940s? No, it's just..." Before he could finish saying it, Conor interrupted.

"You got cuts from the previous training, did ya?"

"Yes... And I fear that if my mother saw this, she's going to flip out" Charles said.

"Let me take a look" Charles reached his arm to Conor and revealed the wound hidden under his fatigues.

"Oh don't worry, it's not really serious. But why didn't you patch it up while ago?"

" No, I couldn't find any bandages or any thing to stop the wound. Luckily it dried after a few minutes"

Before Conor could respond, someone called his name.

"Conor, brother? There you are, I've been looking for you. Mom's been waiting for you. It's time for dinner. Oh hey Charles, how's it going?" Ryan, Conor's brother informed him.

Charles nodded "Yeah, I'm fine. Just got a little cut here." Pointing at his left arm

"Oh... Well that's unfortunate. But it will heal soon"

"Shepherd's pie" With the mention of food, Conor immediately stood up.

"Alright I'm coming, oh wait a second. Charles how are you going to go back to your house?" Conor asked.

"Oh don't worry, I'll walk back home. It's not too far anyway." Charles assured them with a small smile.

"Alright, see ya tomorrow. There's still training tomorrow." Charles smile started fading when he heard what he said.

"Goodbye Charles! Remember, rest well for today is only the third day of the program! There's still four more days of it." Charles' smile completely disappeared, changing into a wanly face. He's extremely tired from the rigorous training everyday, everybody was.

 _Great, more combat exercises tomorrow. I'm awfully worn out from these bloody trainings, all of us are. But these two, it seems like they aren't even exasperated from it. I've gotta go home, it's getting late anyway. Just like Ryan said, better rest well for what's coming ahead._

Charles stood up from the bench, and started walking back the way to his beloved home.

As he was walking through the streets, he accidentally bumped unto someone.

"Pardon me lad, I wasn't looking where I was heading to." The man Charles bumped into said.

He noticed the man have a distinct uniform, has a ballistic body armor and has a riot helmet. The man was revealed to be a CN Enforcer police unit[2].

"I am sorry as well sir." Charles continued his way, but he heard the enforcer said something to him.

"Alright, be careful on the streets and watch out for muggers" The man warned him as he continued walking back to his home.

After a few minutes, he finally arrived at his house.

He sighed "Home sweet home."

He started walking to the door, he knocked before he enter the house.

"Oh dear Charles! Why in the world do you have a cut in your arm!?"

"Mum, it's just a small cut. I'll get the bandages upstairs"

"I knew it was a bad idea letting you go to that camp." Charles mom muttered quietly.

* * *

 **Hello! This is the 4th chapter of this story.**

 **Once again, I highly apologize for not being to update this story for a very long time. I was very busy, since last week was my exam days. And I wasn't able to write constantly everyday. I highly apologize for the long wait for another chapter.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Additional information:**

 **[1] The YS-DT program was a program created by the OverEye industries and was supported by the CoN (or simply CN). Its primary purpose was to teach young people on how to fight and defend themselves. It it not mandatory to enlist in this program and is only upon the agreement of the parents or guardians to let them join this program. It it also not widely known by the majority of the public. Its secondary purpose was to actually train a possible militia to defend the** **country if the need arises. The duration of the training lasts for 5 hours each day**

 **Even though some are hesitant about this idea. Although only a few know the secondary purpose of this program.**

 **Also, the reason why Charles' father put him in the program was because it was a recommendation by one of Karl's co-workers.**

 **[2] CN Enforcer units are special police units employed by the Coalitions of Nations. They are stationed on countries allied with the CN. They usually enforce order on public areas and cities, and they're quite similar to the military police. They usually patrol in a 3-man squad. They are always equipped with: stun baton, energy taser gun, smoke grenades, stun grenades.**

 **And occasionally they're armed with: PR-69 Pulse carbines and fragmentation grenades in case of fighting against insurgents and UIA soldiers. They are also tasked with securing evacuations of civilians in case of warzones.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello! This will be the 5th chapter of this story! I hope you'll enjoy it!**

 **I must also thank Gabriel for reviewing the previous chapters of this story. And Jack905, yes you're quite right on that. One of this story's inspiration was Kurt Wylde 42's Lion King fanfiction story. But I must highly apologize for the accidental act of attempted imitation and copying.**

 **I will change that part, don't worry. And also I may want to inform all of you that I have changed a few errors and misspellings on the previous chapters.**

* * *

Charles was sitting at the priderock, looking over at the beautiful land that is the pridelands. A lioness sat beside him, just awoken from her sleep.

"Good morning Charles."

"Good morning to you too, your name is?" Charles asked, recognizing her as the lioness who asked his name yesterday.

"Sarafina, it's nice to meet you." Charles noticed that she's actually pregnant"You're actually pregnant."

"Yes, and so is Queen Sarabi and the others. I could probably be giving birth next month or longer than that."

"Well that's wonderful. Advance congratulations to you."

"Thank you, I will be having a rest right now with the other lionesses. May I ?"

"Oh sure, you can go now." Sarafina went to a nearby tree where Sarabi and the others are resting.

Charles went back to looking over the fields.

 **7 hours later**

Charles got bored of just staring at the sky and the lands. So he decides to roam around the pridelands, not knowing what else he could do right now.

Charles received several curious looks from the animals around him. He could even hear some of them speak.

"Who is that?"

"That must be the human the king announced about."

Charles didn't mind about them, none of them looked hostile to him. Just a few curious zebras and antelopes, perhaps they have never seen a human yet.

He saw a waterhole and decided to refill a few bottles. He went back to the priderock and grab his bag.

Upon arriving the waterhole, he inspected it first. Hoping it is clean enough for consumption.

 _Looks clean._

He filled three bottles with water, and put it back to his bag. Now that he has enough water to last a few days or even one week, he now decides on how he will get food in case his rations are depleted.

 _How am I suppose to get food? Oh yeah, I remember promising Mufasa's pride some help, including hunting food with them. But I ony have a knife, and it won't be really effective against a few tough preys out there._

He first decides to look for a few edible fruits to eat., or perhaps he could do some foraging for food.

He went to a nearby tree and and tried to find some edible insects, and luckily he found a few termites crawling through the bark of the tree. He grab a few, he started thinking how these are eaten.

 _Heard this termites can be eaten raw, well then raw it is then._

He ate one and started chewing it. _Crunchy, oddly tastes like pineapple for some reason. Not bad at all._

He grab a few more and ate them, crunching the insects in his mouth.

 _Okay I think that's enough insects for one day._

The sun was setting down already, meaning it's nearly night now.

Charles quickly grab his bag and head back for the priderock. Upon arriving at the priderock, he saw two groups of lionesses dragging an antelope and a wildebeest.

"Charles, come join us. It's time to eat dinner." The king asked Charles, sitting inside the cave

They went inside the cave and set down both of their kills, and formed a circle around the cave.

(Sorry for using the word three times, TRIPLE CAVE.)

Charles sat near them and observe them. He heard from the teachings and lectures of the school that the leader of the pride would always eat before the rest of them, then the pride will eat after the king has finished.

And so the eating began, the king first and then the whole pride. Charles is going to get a slice, but he decides to create a fire first to cook the meat.

He went out and gather a few wood, leaves, grass and barks from the trees for a tinder nest.

He first creates a tinder, from leaves, dry grass and a few barks. He grabs a wood and cuts a v-shaped notch into the wood, and cut a small part of the wood to create a hole adjoining to the notch. He then place a piece of bark into the notch. Next, he crafts a spindle by cutting one of the few remaining wood. He started rolling it between his hand, creating friction with it. Soon smoke started rising from it, Charles rolled it faster and faster until an ember was formed out of it. He takes the wooden board and drops the ember unto the bark. He grabs the bark and transferred it to the nest of tinder, he gently blows it to start a flame. Finally, a flame was formed from the tinder nest.

He quickly get a slice from the antelope, he has been wondering what an antelope tastes like since yesterday when he forgot to retrieve the antelope he killed.

He started cooking the meat, and after a few minutes of cooking. He took a bite of it, and started savouring the meat of the antelope.

 _Has quite a mild taste. Tastes like one of those Hirschfleisch in Germany._

After finishing eating his meal, he went back to his resting spot in the cave and decided to write in his journal.

 _September 27, 2072_

 _Another day in the pridelands, I was able to know a few lionesses in pride and befriend them. I hope to get acquainted with the rest of the lions on the next ongoing days. And today was the first time I could get to taste the meat of an antelope, it actually tastes like one of those deer meat from Deutschland. I did promise the pride that I will help them in some way if I can, so I decided to help them hunt for food. I will be needing to practice my hunting skills first though, so my chances of succeeding the hunt will get higher._

Charles set aside the journal and lies down to take his sleep. He suddenly have thoughts about his friends and relatives back at his country.

* * *

 **Portsmouth, England, August 13, 2072**

 _Tomorrow will be our flight and vacation to Africa, dad gave us a few days to prepare our things and say farewells to our friends and other relatives. Sarah told me yesterday to meet her somewhere at the Forest of Bere, north of Portsmouth._

"Don't worry mum, I'll be back in probably 2 to 3 hours." Charles came out of their house, his tactical backpack on his back.

"Okay Charles, goodbye and take care!"

Charles begins his walk towards the direction of the forest.

 **1 hour later, Forest of Bere**

After arriving at the forest, Charles started walking deeper into the forest. After a few minutes of walking, he finally saw Sarah waving at him. She's wearing a black jacket with a green shirt underneath it and hiking pants to pair with it.

"There you are, what took you so long."

"Sorry, I came here on foot."

"Alright, at least you came. Let's go."Sarah motioned him to follower her.

"Where are we going anyway?" Charles asked, wondering why she brought him to the forest.

"Oh you'll find it out later..." She continued "Alright I'll give you a hint, it's something cool." She smirked.

"Something cool?" Now he got curious.

As they were walking on a dirt road between the forest, they suddenly heard distand noises of engine and rumbling. Several vehicles in dark yellow colors are moving straight towards them, both Charles and Sarah moved to the side to let them pass through. A crown with a lion on top of it and two swords crossing it was engraved on the vehicles, revealing it to be a British army convoy. There were two transporters escorted by three Jackal Mk.3 and two FV-101 Scorpion Mk.5. The tank transporters were carrying tanks resembling the Challenger 5.

After they pass through them, they continue their trek.

"Looks like they're carrying tanks to the base your dad used to stationed at." She said.

"Yeah, I guess so. But my dad is still stationed there, but he's only a part of the military reserve force."

"My father's a part of the reserves too." Charles nodded, both knowing now that both of their fathers are in the same group of units.

 **5 minutes later...**

"Here it is" She said, pointing to a concrete structure covered by vines and moss.

"Woah... what is that?" Charles move nearer to inspect it further.

"When did you discover this?" He asked Sarah.

"I accidentally stumbled upon it when I was just wandering around the forest, didn't know yet what it is. That's why I called you, so we can check it out. " She moved one of the thick vines, revealing a door behind it.

"Wanna check it out?" She asked Charles, a skeptical look on his face.

"Hmmmm... I'm not so sure. You got a flashlight or any source of light brought with you?"

She brought out a flashlight from the pocket of her jacket "Yeah, I brought one just in case it's dark inside. Did you brought yours as well?"

Charles ramaged through his bag "Ah, here it is. Yeah I brough it with me." He said, holding his torch.

"You ready?" She grips the door handle of the steel door.

"Yeah, I'm ready."She opened the door, showing it to be pitch black inside.

"Ladies first." He smiled.

"Aww, thank you." She enter the building and Charles followed suit. She turned on her flashlight and Charles opened his own as well. The whole room was dusty and the corners were filled with cobwebs.

"I'll search for a light switch." Charles suggested, and so they started looking around.

"Sure, go ahead." She said, peeking at the insides of a container trunk.

As Charles was searching for a switch in the wall, he felt a handle attached to it. He turned the flashlight to the spot, revealing a lever with a spider sticking on it.

Charles gave a shout at the sight. "What happened? You okay Charles?" She asked.

"Yeah...just saw a spider." Charles said, breathing heavily.

"A spider? Really!? Charles, it's only a spider."

"No, it's not that I'm afraid of spiders. The sight of it just took me surprise, that's all." He timidly smiled. He went for the lever and lower it, making the room bright with the lights. The room has several container trunks, a table with a military radio on it, and another steel door on the other side of the wall.

Charles turned her attention towards Sarah, who was giving him the smirk again.

"Oh Charles, you scaredy cat." She teased him.

"Hey, I'm not a coward!" Charles is beginning to become upset. He went near the table with the radio, he start observing the radio. It looks like one of those ww2-era radios that grandfather used to keep. He suddenly felt two warm hands embracing him behind.

"I'm just kidding" She gave Charles a peck on the cheek.

"Come on, lets continue exploring this place." They continued looking around.

"This is definitely a bunker." Charles stated, with all the equipment laying around that was used by military personnels before.

"Hey, lets check that door. There's surely something beyond that door." She point towards the door.

They entered the room and found out it was dark inside, the light from the other room shining only a small area.

Charles found another switch on the side of the wall.

 _This must be the light switch._

He switched it on, the sudden flash of lights blinded his vision.

Both Charles and Sarah were surprised, a wide room with a whole line of tanks. Several types of tanks were in the hall, including light tanks, heavy tanks, MBTs, medium tanks, SPAAGs, and SPGs of all sorts.

"Woah, there's a lot of military vehicles here. Charles, aren't you a tank lover?" She asked.

"Yeah, but Ryan's the real tank fanatic. He knows nearly every tank, he even knows when they were produced, what company manufactured them, their main armaments and etc." Charles continue "I only know a few of them."

He look around the room to properly examine the tanks.

"That's odd, these tanks are quite the old ones. A Challenger two british MBT. That one's a T-80 russian tank, a cold war-era battle tank. A British AS-90 self-propelled artillery. A FV101 Scorpion, a British light tank. M2 Bradley, an American infantry fighting vehicle. A ZSU-23-4 "Shilka", Soviet Russian SPAAG. And this, A German Leopard 2A4. Some of this tanks are really outdated." He touch the outer armor plate of the Leopard tank as if he is observing it.

"Beautiful... I wonder who own these." Charles continued looking at the other armored vehicles.

"I was wondering the same thoughts too, must be some tank collector or a military enthusiast."

"That means we're probably trespassing private property..."

"You know what, I think we should continue to our next destination." Charles glance at her, curious again. Wondering what's she up to next.

"Next destination?" Charles asked her.

"Yeah, we'll be moving to our main destination. Come on lets go, we might arrive there late." With that, she grips Charles' hand which surprised him, and begin to walk to the exit. They turn off the lights to make the place look undisturbed in case the owner ever comes back.

 **5 minutes later**

They arrived at a wide field of bluebells with a path between it leading to a tree in the middle, in the northern section of the forest. Sarah sit and told Charles to sit as well, both quiet for a few minutes. That is until Charles deciding to break the silence, spoke.

"This is a very beautiful and peaceful place Sarah, but may I ask why did you bring me here? I Don't really want to be rude though." She just simply sat there in abstraction, Charles tried to wave his hand over her field of view.

"Sarah? Hey, hey, get out of your trance." He snapped his finger and to his success, she finally snap out of it.

"Oh sorry, I accidentally lost my focus."

"You're having some deep thoughts, aren't you?" She nodded "It's okay Sarah, you can tell me. If you want to. But if it's none of my business then it's okay, if it intrudes your privacy."

"Charles, you remember my mother right?" She asked, Charles' face became serious.

"...Yes..."

She explained to Charles how this was the place she and her mother used to go to, the fun memories they had here before...she passed away.

"What about your father? He seems like a nice guy."

"Yeah, he is a kind father. But we rarely contact with each other, he's just too busy in the military."

"So, you're usually alone-"He paused, thinking he might make himself sound like a creep to her.

"Not really, I do have the cats with me. But other than the pets, a few of my friends at the university visit me sometimes, and of course you, whenever you come here. So don't worry, I'm not really lonely here. But I'm used to it anyway." She said.

"Charles...I just wanna thank you for everything you've done for me, for the comfort you've gave me whenever I was sad. All the fun and happy times we had, and every single moment we have that I cherished very much." She smiled, he returned the smile. Then her face became serious, "There's also something else I've gotta say, Charles...I got accepted by the university I was trying to apply in. I didn't expect them to actually accept it, here's the letter." She pulls at a small envelope, giving it to Charles. After reading the letter, he beamed.

"That's great news! Congratulations!"They embraced each other in a tight hug. After separating from their hug, their eyes contact with each other. Both blue eyes aligned with each other, their lips made contact to each other. In other words, they kissed. After that, they both pulled away from the kiss.

They noticed the sun was setting and the sky was beginning to become dark, meaning it's getting late.

"I think we should go home now."

"Yep, we both surely don't want your mother getting upset."

They walk back home, holding each other's hands.

* * *

 **Okay...sorry I'm not really good at these kind of...romantic scenes in stories(This is my first time writing a story anyway). I just simply state it by saying, _they kissed._ That's it, just that simple. And also I highly apologize once again for taking a long time to update this story, I was quite busy around these days. But I will try to write as much as I can, therefore I have to properly schedule my activities during these winter holidays. And it will last until January 2, after that will be the continuation of my classes here.**

 **Additional information that I may have forgot to add in the previous chapter:**

 **That** _ **bunker**_ **they stumbled upon was a secret depot for vehicles and supplies used by the UIA. It was once a WW2 bunker and now utilized by the Western Europe Frontlines Regiment(WEFR) of the UIA. And yes, they really used some outdated and old military vehicles during the first years of the war. They use any tanks and equipment they could get their hands on and sometimes, augment them with more efficient engines, better main armaments, and other upgrades to keep up with the CoN's UK Challenger 5, German Leopard 2A9, US' M1A7 Abrams, and Russia's T-69(2069). (Main Battle Tanks often used by the Coalition.)**

 **The reserve forces that Charles' and Sarah's fathers were part of is slightly different from the modern reserves today. They are not in active combat and will just partake in training until they are called to duty in fighting.**

 **Also I forgot to write something about the Enforcer police units. In nations that are part of the CoN, each city(towns and provinces also) have 3-4 Enforcer platoons consisting of 25-50 units (However, their patrol squad consists of 3 units) stationed in several sectors of the city.**


	6. Chapter 6: Neue Waffen

**Okay...this will be the sixth chapter and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.**

 **Jack905, by what kind of tools are you speaking of? Survival tools? Combat tools?**

It's been one month already after being accepted by the Mufasa and his pride, I was able to finally know the names of the rest of the lionesses and familiarize with them: including Afia, Akua, Imani, Kacela, Furaha, Umayma, Ummi, Daleen, and Kacela. Except for Scar and Zira of course, they're still hostile towards me. Today will be the day I will accompany the lionesses on their hunt. The months of practicing my knife skills better be worth it.

"Alright we're here." In the distance was a herd of zebra eating on the grass fields. Zira motioned them to group into a circle.

"I'll be leading the hunt since Queen Sarabi and Sarafina are both pregnant. We'll split into two groups, I will lead the first group and Kacela will be leading the second group. First group will be Me, Afia, Akua, and Imani. The second will be Kacela, Anaya, Furaha, and Charles. The first group will try to chase the zebras while the second will intercept them on the other side."

Kacela whispered to Charles,"Good luck Charles."

The lionesses crouched lowly in the grass and began circling the herd, unaware of their presence. The groups have now moved unto their position. If one of them breaks a twig or makes an audible noise, it would alert their position ot the herds.

He crawled down as well to prevent himself from being detected as well, especially since he doesn't want to be a burden to the pride by alerting their presence to the herds.

At the blink of an eye, the first groups of lionesses swiftly came out of the grass, going for the zebras. At the sight of the lionesses, the zebra started running away from them knowing that they'll be their next meal.

Zira leapt at one of the zebras at its back, with Imani on the rear of it as well. She reached for its throat and bit it, immediately killing the zebra and making it tumble.

As for the other zebras, it was time for the second group to ambush them. All of them tried to go for one of the zebras, but this one has a quick reaction enough to dodge the other lionesses attack. All except for Kacela, who managed to caught on its hindquarters. But with the zebra's extreme shaking attempting to throw her off, it made it difficult for her to go for the kill.

"Charles, he's coming at you!" Kacela shouted.

The zebra was charging straight towards him, with Kacela on its back. He was panicking, thinking what to do to stop the zebra _dead_ on its tracks. He tries to throw his knife towards the zebra, hoping to hit some important part of it.

He threw the knife. And with an incredible stroke of luck, it hit the cranium of the zebra. Instantly killing it, the zebra came tumbling down the ground. Charles approached the carcass and was met with the smile of Kacela.

"That was a great first kill, Charles." The other lionesses part of the second group also came to the carcass and congratulated Charles too.

"Nice one, Charles."

"You got your first kill."

"Thanks, I just want to help the pride by assisting you guys in hunting food." The first group soon brought their kill with them.

Zira's reaction was neutral, not angry nor happy. Just a blank face.

"Impressive, he'll be useful for the benefit of the pride."She said.

We carried back our kills to the priderock and set it down, quite exhausted from the weight of carrying the zebra. It's time for dinner.

"Before we shall start our supper, I would like to congratulate Charles for his first hunt and for helping the pride in hunting." Most of the pride members smiled, except for Zira and Scar. Who were having blank looks on their faces.

"Thank you all, but I'm doing this in order to compensate and offer gratitude to this pride for accepting me. I may help the pride hunt again sometimes if I ever got the chance again."

After Charles' speech, the pride of lions started eating.

Charles get a nice slice of zebra meat and started cooking it. After the meat is finally cooked, it's time to dig in.

 _A bit tough to chew, but not bad_

"Hey, congratulations on your first hunt." Xyrisse said to him.

"Thank you Xyrisse."

"I heard you killed that zebra by throwing the...sharp blade of yours at it."

"Oh this? This is a knife, we don't have claws so we use this to hunt or to defend ourselves. This also has different purposes that's pretty useful for survival."

"Great, that's going to help us in hunting. Anyway I should go back to guard the pregnant lionesses, hope to hunt with you guys next time. Good night Charles." She went back to the area of the cave where the pregnant lionesses are resting.

"Goodnight to you too."

After he ate the zebra, he went for his journal and write again.

 _October 28, 2072_

 _Today was my first successful hunt with the lionesses, gotta find a way somehow to repay them for acepting me into the pride. Hope to help them hunt for food again someday. This was also the first time I tasted a zebra, not bad actually._

 _Charles W. Harrison_

He set aside the journal and went to sleep.

 **1 month later**

Charles was once again walking around the priderock, whistling with no idea what to do. He was soon looking at the jungle, he noticed something odd in the jungle.

 _Hmmmm...Looks like some sort of gray structure in that place. Looks like a bunker to me, gotta check it out._

He grabbed his bag and went to the jungle and soon realized it was made in concrete. It was covered by vines and moss decked the wall. There was a rusty steel door in front of it, Charles tried to open the door.

It was unlocked.

 _Looks like somebody didn't sealed the door well_

He entered the bunker and find everything in utter mess. Teared and crumpled papers scattered, and a few chairs tipped over. There were two doors that could possibly lead to other rooms. A few objects were covered in dust, showing this place to be undisturbed for a long time. The desk has a old desktop computer and monitor with wires connecting to several parts of the room, and a digital clock. Charles tried opening the computer on, luckily it actually turned on.

 **System Activating...**

 **Turn off Emergency Preservation Power?**

 **Yes No**

Charles grabbed the mouse and click **Yes**

 **Emergency Preservation Power shutting down...Activating Solar Charge Generator**

 **Water Filtration System initiating...**

 **rebooting...**

 **linking to computer...**

 **ACTIVATED**

 _Wait...a water filtrater, I'll be needing that_

He got out a few bottles of water he refilled from the waterhole and decided to clean it, just for sanitary purposes.

Near the computer is a machinery composed of several tubes, a opening on top of one of the tubes connected to it. One of the tubes has a label reading: **Pour water here, one by one**

He emptied the first bottle into the filtrater. A screen attached to the platform of the machine lit up. Showing the text: **1 litre of water ready for filtration, please set a container for the water in the gripper**

He put the empty bottle into an arm-like object in one of the tubes to grasp the bottle. The screen displayed: **Permission of filtration from user awaiting...**

 **Start Cancel**

He selected **Start**

 **Initiating Filtration...**

Noises started coming out of the machine, sounds of flowing water can be heard too.

After the process was complete for the first bottle, he did the same way with the rest of the bottles.

He returned the bottles to the bag and continued checking out the whole place. He inspected the computer again to check the other possible features of it.

 **System Check**

 **Dates of Operation**

 **Power storage**

 **SAFE**

 _Hmmm...lets see_

 **System Check**

 **Main Power: Online**

 **Computer Monitor System: Online**

 **Solar Power Generator: Online**

 **Emergency Preservation Power: Offline**

 **Water Filtration System: Online**

 **Hostile Suppression Security System: Offline**

 **Fire Suppressors: Online**

 **Dust Eliminator: Offline**

 **Radiation and BioHazardous Materials Scrubbers and Protection System: Online**

 **Energy Charger Station:Online**

 **Dates of Operation**

 **System started- February 25, 2062**

 **Last time operational- December 17, 2071**

 **Initiation of Emergency Preservation Power- December 19, 2071**

 **Power Storage**

 **Power Usage: 65%**

 **SAFE**

 **Unlock? Affirmative Negative**

He suddenly felt curious as to what is in the door leading to another room, revealing it to be a room with a medium-sized bunk bed enough for two people. A safe attached to wall. And two military ammo boxes and gun storage containers sat beside the wall on the right side. One box has a label reading: **.308 Winchester,** and the other one: **50 cal.** Both gun storage containers are in different sizes, one was bigger and another was smaller.

He opened the gun containers and gasped: inside were two guns. A SMLE IV. No. 1 Marksman Rifle[1] and a Mauser P59 Pistole[2].

The two ammo boxes have about 6 clips of 50 cal. and 8 cartridges of 308.

He went back to the computer and checked the SAFE titled in the menu screen.

 **SAFE**

 **Unlock? Affirmative Negative**

 **Affirmative**

 **Deactivating lock security system...**

 **Shutting down Radiation Protection...**

 **Open Sesame...Safe...**

 **UNLOCKED!**

A metallic noise came from the safe as it was opening. The inside contents were, a key, a military radio, a flashlight, and a few papers and documents.

Charles guessed that the key was possibly for the door of the bunker. The radio won't work, sadly. The flashlight's batteries are drained, luckily the batteries are rechargeable. The documents look important but it's all written in Latin.

 _ **Privato Tecnologica Armato di Solidarietà**_

 _ **Divisione Ricerca di Biologia**_

 _ **Saluti! Siamo lieti che abbia accettato il posto lavoro. Il vostro lavoro è quello di studiare la vita dei Lions nell'enorme roccia nelle le loro attività quotidiane e Li studi attentamente per eventuali modifiche su intellettuali e capacità fisiche. Abbiamo anche dato una casa con letti a castello, una cassetta di sicurezza per i beni preziosi, un set completo di computer, acqua impianto di filtrazione, sistemi particolari di igiene e sicurezza, radiazioni di protezione, e una bella selezione di arma da fuoco e per proteggervi da incontri ostili. E da voi stessi, intendiamo portai evere un partner che vi aiuterà nella vostra ricerca e studio dei abbiamo impiegato una vasta gamma di attività di ricerca scientifica attrezzature per voi e il vostro assistente. Abbiamo inoltre installato un lavoro completamente bagno con WC, rubinetto e una doccia. Abbiamo installato un generatore di energia solare come un conduttore di elettricità del bunker e anche di energia di una stazione di carica per batterie e altri tipi di dispositivi elletronici per la carica. Abbiamo fornito con cibo sufficiente e di razioni alimentari per ultimo è sufficiente per tutta la durata dell'atività. Possa dio(o alcuna divinità si crede non a tutti) guida e vi benedica in questa importante missione! Per la scienza e per la buona gente di questa terra!**_

 _ **Dal supervisore e direttore della ricerca scientifica divisione,**_

 _ **Supervising Director Leonardo Castrogiovanni**_

The only words he can read so far is the name of the person who sent the document. He returned the paper and took the key. He checked the clock and realized he's been quite a long time in the bunker.

 _I guess it's time to head back to the priderock_

Before, he charged the batteries on the charging station for the flashlight. It took about 8-9 minutes to charge it. He grabbed the weapons and a few clips of them for their ammunition. He made sure to properly lock the door of the entrance to prevent any further intruders. He went on to return back to the priderock, with the new loots and discoveries inside his bag. As he was walking back to the the direction of the priderock, he heard a roar of pain coming from it. He went near to the priderock and saw several lionesses outside, guarding the entrance.

"What's happening here?" He asked.

"Sarabi and the other pregnant lionesses are giving birth, Rafiki told us to stay out of the cave to wait for them to finish." One of the lionesses, Imani said to him.

"Where have you been anyway, Charles?" The question came from Xyrisse.

"Just taking a walk near the jungle."

"But why?"

"I just found something great while ago in there, I'll just tell you tomorrow." She now got curious, thinking what is Charles trying to hide.

"Oh come on, just tell me. Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret." She even gave a wink, trying to persuade him to reveal his secret. Another roar of pain can be heard in the cave.

"I'm just gonna tell you tomorrow."

She groaned, "Alright."

"It's not really anything important anyway, don't be so eager about it."

"Alright." She admitted in defeat, her curiosity faded.

Then, the cries of pain ceased. A few minutes later the mandrill named Rafiki came out of the cave, who was the shaman of the pride.

"The birthing process is finished, you can now take a look at the cubs" Every lionesses and Charles went into the cave to see the newborn cubs.

Sitting there were Queen Sarabi, Sarafina, Daleen, Umayma, and Anaya. Wrapping their cubs between them, feeding on their milk.

"Three were females and two were males." Announced the lioness who helped them give birth, Afya.

"What's her name, Sarafina?" asked Kacela.

"I named her, Nala." She smiled at her cub. Nala has a creamy-colored fur and her underbelly paler in contrast. Her paws are colorless, slightly different from the usual cubs.

Daleen named hers Tama, she has a beige-colored fur with a slight color of orange, and a tuft of hair on her head . And Umayma's cub, Kula. Kula's fur is a color of caramel brown, a pink nose, and a brown tuft on her tail. And just like Nala, has colorless paws. Anaya gave her cub the name, Chumvi. He has dark brown fur, a pale brown muzzle, dull brown underbelly, and a cluttered patch of fur on his head.

"And what are you going to name him, Queen Sarabi?"

"Me and Mufasa chose to name him, Simba." Mufasa approached his mate and nuzzled her lovingly, both happy from their newborn son. For their new heir.

 **That was Chapter 6! Sorry for not being able to update once again, I was very busy and exams are coming soon, again. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will try my best to update and write as much as I can.**

 **Jack905: I felt it was necessary to apologize for the accidental imitation of his work, I had a tendency of losing inspiration and ideas sometimes.**

 **Please inform me if my story accidentally looked identical to the plot of other LK fanfics. And in case any of your OCs or any author's original characters have somewhat the same names, then it's a complete accident that they both have the same names.**

 **Also, if anybody who read the story that understands Italian. Please inform and correct my words if there's any incorrect grammar, spelling, and etc. Thank you.**

 **Additional information:**

 **1\. The SMLE Mk. IV No. 1 is a semi-automatic marksman rifle designed and manufactured by RO Defence during the years 2053-2075, before being replaced by the SMLE No. 3. The first prototype was created in March 16, 2052 and was mainly funded by the UIA(Before they went to war with the UK) as a semi-auto combat and marksman rifle. It was used by NCOs in squads, scouts, reconaissance units, military police, and frontline officers(Either the British SMLE MK. IV No.1 or the French Automatique Carabine 2049[AC-49] depending on the officer's choice) of the UIA. It is also used by mercenaries and PMCs for its reliability, accuracy and velocity. It either uses a 308. Winchester or a 7.62x51mm rounds for its ammunition. There is about 50,000 - 100,000 stocks of it still used by the UIA.**

 **2\. Pistole Parabellum 2059(P59) is manufactured in 2059 and designed in 2058 by Mauser, Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken(Now owned by OverEye Industries) and Rheinmetall AG. It is a semi automatic handgun and primarily uses a 50 cal. round as its ammo, similar to the IMI Desert Eagle. The advantage of it was that it's cheaper to produce although still durable and well-functioning at the same time. It was tested for 1 year to check for any malfunctions and problems in it before starting its mass-production on September 23, 2059. It was generally favoured by German officers, the KSK(Kommando Spezialkräfte) deutsche special forces, the GSG-9 counter terrorist police unit, SSC(Special Service Company) of the Chinese Federation/Union, and some OverEye private armed security operators.**


	7. Chapter 7: What a birthday

**Hallo! Anyway about the cubs on the previous chapter, I realized that Chumvi, Tojo, Kula and Tama could possibly be siblings. But the problem is, I don't which is correct. There's been fanfics and fanarts of Tojo and Tama being siblings and Chumvi and Kula possibly being siblings as well. If anyone has the correct information about who and who are siblings, then please inform me about it. Then I will change it and correct it. Thank you.**

 **Jack905: I hope I got the right idea...**

 **And this will be the seventh chapter. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!**

 **The next day...**

Its been several months of Charles staying in this pridelands. His wounds have now fully recovered, but he had no idea how to return back to his home. He'd try looking around the place for any sign of fellow humans, but sadly there's none. During his sleep everynight, he always had a chance to get nightmares, nightmares of his family before the plane crash. He could always hear their screams, their cries of help echoing unto his mind.

 _Charles!_

 _Charles! Help us!_

 _CHARLES!_

He could hear his family screaming, his father shouting at him. Like the time his father tried to save him from the fall. He wish this would end, but guilt and pain still remains in his heart for months.

 _CHARLES_

Charles woke up, breathing heavily from the nightmare he just had. He looked around, all of the lions are still asleep. He grab his bag and carefully tiptoed through the sleeping lionesses, not wanting to disturb their peaceful sleep.

He grab his backpack and went to the waterhole like every morning to wash his face.

After washing his face, he remembers about the firearms he got yesterday. And decides to try and practice using them.

 _Hope I still got it_

Before that, he use his knife to carve a target board in a tree.

He used the SMLE Mk. IV first, loading the cartridge and turning off the safety.

He aimed the rifle at the target.

 _Inhale, exhale._

"Hey Charles, would you want to join us in hunting?" Asked Xyrisse. The surprise question came from her got a yelp from Charles.

"Sure. Just please don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry, I was just excited to join the hunt again. I won't do it to you next time, I promise." A sheepish grin on her face.

"But who will protect the cubs and their mothers?"

"Don't worry, my job of guarding the cubs have now been switch with another lioness. We usually change shifts of taking care of them."

It took a few minutes before Charles spoke again, "Alright, I'm just gonna get my things needed for hunting." He grabbed his bag and SMLE , one cartridge for the rifle.

"Don't underestimate her Charles, she may still be quite a young lioness. But she's an excellent hunter."Sarabi stated, feeding her cub with her milk.

"I won't, we were taught that Lions are great at hunting their prey. Especially if they're in groups." They walk down the priderock to meet the other lionesses that are going to participate in the hunt. The ones who are joining the hunt were Kacela, Zira, Imani, Afia, Anaya, Akua, Xyrisse and Charles himself.

Hearing from the conversation of the lionesses, Kacela will be leading the first group this time. "Kacela will lead the first group, with Imani, Charles, and Xyrisse in it. And I will lead the second group, with the rest of the hunting part in it." After their meeting about the hunting groups, they'll now move on to find a herd to prey on for food.

"So, how old are you Xyrisse?" Asked Charles, he guessed she's about 3-4 years old already.

"I'm only 4 years old." His guess is correct.

"So is there anyone who taught you on how hunt before?"

"Yes, Sarabi, Sarafina and the other lionesses trained me on hunting before they got pregnant. After they're expectant of cubs, Kacela became my mentor in teaching me on how to hunt."

"I heard Sarabi mentioning about something that each lionesses have to hunt alone as a rite of passage on their first hunt. Did you have yours as well?" He asked.

"Yes, I made my first hunt seven months ago."

They're now near a herd of antelopes, unaware of the lions stalking them. Charles and the lions lay low to prevent detection from the herd, avoiding any noise. Accidentally stepping a twig or branch could lead the herd aware of their presence.

They spot a antelope whose legs are trembling slightly, indicating it's becoming weak and old. They decided to target that specific antelope as their prey. They now began approaching the antelopes, silently.

Instantly, the first group ran out of the grass and went for the antelope. At the sight of the lionesses, the herd immediately panicked and started sprinting around. Again, Zira was the first one to leap at the antelope, biting its neck and killing it quickly. The other lions tried to catch some of the other antelopes, but were too late as they all fled away from the lionesses.

However, one antelope was simply _not_ enough to feed the whole pride. So they look for other animals to hunt for.

A few minutes of walking and they spot a flock of wildebeests, sauntering in a field of grass. Once again, the wildebeests didn't notice the hunters watching them.

"Hey Charles, what's the black-colored stick you're holding for?"Xyrisse referred to his rifle, now the other lionesses wondered too.

"Wanna see what it does? Hold on, you guys need to cover your ears first." After hearing his warning the lionesses covered their ears, they had barely any idea on what Charles is going to do.

He aimed his sights on one of the wildebeests, steadying his grip to ensure his accuracy.

 _Inhale, exhale_

He took a deep breath, and pressed the trigger. A loud noise came from firing of his rifle, echoing through the lands. Birds flew out of their trees, the gunfire scared away any other animals nearby. The wildebeest he was aiming at instanly slumped to the ground, indicating his kill. The other wildebeests quickly ran for it, to prevent themselves from being caught too.

The lionesses were stunned at what just happened. Questions started coming from the lionesses.

He could hear Xyrisse mutter "Woah, what was that loud noise?"

"With such a weapon like that, it would be vital for us in hunting food." The comment came from Kacela.

He saw Zira's expression, who was shocked and dumbfounded just like the rest of the pride.

"But what if you or some other humans used it against us?" asked Anaya in a concerned voice.

"Do not worry, I won't. Unless you'll attempt to attack me, then I've gotta defend myself. As for other humans, I don't there's been any humans here for years. Right?" Charles questioned.

"Not much, we only heard tales of them from the elders before. Mostly about them being extremely dangerous to the pride." Imani stated, and continued "But you, you definitely earned our trust as a human." She smiled.

"Thanks, I guess we should head back now?" They all nodded. They went back to the priderock with the wildebeest and antelope they killed carried on their back.

"That certainly is impressive." Mufasa said after hearing the news about Charles' new weapon for hunting.

"I must thank you for helping my pride hunt though." He said, smiling at him.

"Thanks, sire. But I must return the gratitude as well, for accepting me into the pride."Charles bowed at the king.

"Charles, there is no need for calling us sire, king or queen. Just call us by our names." Charles was quite shocked, knowing that most people would need to address a person of royalty in a formal way as respect.

"But your...er, Mufasa, are you sure? We used those titles as a sign of respect for people with royal blood, such as kings and queens."

"Well, think of this request as an order from the king. How's that sound?" It took a few minutes of thinking from Charles before he finally agreed to it.

"Alright then, if that's what you want." Upon hearing him concede, Mufasa smiled.

"That's great. Therefore, now on you will call us just by our names. No need for any formalities." Charles nodded. Mufasa's majordomo, Zazu flew in.

"Excuse me sire, but I would like to report to you something. I you don't mind sir?" Asked the blue hornbill.

"Go ahead Zazu." The majordomo began speaking, "There is an argument between the giraffes and the elephants in a waterhole near the giraffes' territory."

"So what exactly is the reason they're fighting?" Asked Mufasa.

"Don't know yet sire, they won't tell me. It's probably best if you go down there to check it." Zazu suggested.

"You're right, better stop this quarrel before it escalates into a fight." Before going out of the cave, he looked at Charles and asked him, "Excuse me Charles, but I have a problem to deal with the giraffes and the elephants. Is it okay?"

"Sure, taking care of the problems of your subjects is certainly more important than a conversation."

"Okay then, perhaps we'll just continue the discussion next time." After watching Mufasa leave the priderock with Zazu, he was one of the only left in the cave. With Sarabi and her cub taking a nap left in the cave. Sarafina and the others are probably taking a rest outside, the usual spot where they lie down under a tree.

Sometimes he wished he could talk with the lions more, but his months of wandering around and the attempt of finding any humans prevented him to do so. Other than a few short conversations, there's the eating during lunch and dinner, but that's just it. He will try to socialise with them more this month.

He didn't have much to do so he went back to the bunker, grabbing his bag and guns.

Arriving at the bunker, he unlock the doors using the keys and enter. The place was still dusty, Charles figured he should try reactivating the dust eliminator. He went to the computer and turn it on, the humming sound of the system unit came alive.

 **System Activating...**

 **rebooting...**

 **linking to computer system...**

 **ACTIVATED**

 **Welcome Back**

 **System Check**

 **Main Power: Online**

 **Computer Monitor System: Online**

 **Solar Power Generator: Online**

 **Emergency Preservation Power: Offline**

 **Water Filtration System: Online**

 **H.S.S.S: Online**

 **Fire Suppressors: Online**

 **Dust Eliminator: Offline**

 **EXPAND**

He select the Dust Eliminator.

 **Dust Eliminator: Offline**

 **Model: Mk. V-225**

 **NOTE: Requires cooldown of approximately 30 minutes after extensive use of purifier of about 1-3 hours.**

 **Reactivate?**

 **Affirmative Negative**

 **Affirmative**

 **Activating Anti-Dust Filter system...**

 **Cleaners activating...**

 **Restarting Filters...**

 **Rebooting Scanners...**

 **Activated!**

He wait for a few minutes to let the machine to do it's work cleaning, the dust started clearing up about ten minutes.

 **The computer screen started beeping, displaying: Dust Cleansing at 99%**

 **CLEANSE PROCESS COMPLETE**

The whole room was now fully clean, the desks which were full of dust is now clean of it, the floor and the chairs were now cleansed of dirts and dusts that had been clenching to them for years.

After taking care of the dusts, he continued scrutinizing the place for any things that can be useful for him. He forgot to check the drawers under the computer desk yesterday, he opened it and found several audiotapes, an audio recorder to play the tapes, and a small box with the label saying: **TFSS-45 Tactical Marksman Silencer[1].**

 _This must be the silencer for the will definitely be useful at certain situations._

He put it into his bag and grab the audio tapes. He inspected them and noticed that they have writings in it, the first one being **First day on the job. Recorded: February 25, 2062.** The total number of tapes were ten of them. He insert the first tape into the recorder to play.

" **This is Scout Operative Armando Romano, Biology Sector of the Scientific Division of the OverEye Industries. Somehow got this job by some guy in a trench coat offering me work with decent salary. Was skeptical about this but he revealed himself to be an employer of the OE Industries, heard they have a pretty good reputation on private armed security operatives and technological services. The agent said he's seeking a man who has military experience, finished college courses relating to science, specifically biology and zoology. He gave me a card and told me to go to the nearest OE outpost, which is in Milan, the capital of Lombardy. After aqcuiring my job in the outpost, the man said I'll be stationed in Kenya, Africa. They didn't actually told me about having an assistant with me, but at least that will help. To be honest, I had no idea why am I recording myself talking, I used to do this when I was still a young recruit before. Guess the habit's returning to m-"**

 ***phone ringtone***

" **Ciao? Chi è questo? My assistant is now in the airport? Alright, I'll go fetch him.. or her?"**

 **Recording Ended**

After he finished hearing the audio tape, he pulled it out and was about to insert the second one. He check the clock and it's 4:12 pm already. He grab his bag, making sure he locked the door of the bunker, and went back to the priderock. With the

Arriving at the priderock, he could see Sarabi and the others lying down in the cave with their cubs. Seeing Charles approaching her, she greeted him, "Hello Charles, how's your day?"

"It's...good." He sat beside and took a close look at the cub, sleeping soundly at her mother's paws. "So how's your cub doing?"

"He's doing fine, thank you for your concern."She smiled at him before she draw her attention back to her son. He noticed Scar walking to his usual spot he always rest in the back of the priderock, which made him remember a question he'd been wanting to ask.

"Sarabi, may I ask you a question?" She nodded, he whispered to her lowly " It's kind of about Scar and Zira, why are they so cold and hostile?" She sighed "They were like that since we were still young cubs, Zira's usually isolates herself. She was always being left out whenever we were playing, which is something me and Sarafina regretted doing when we were cubs."

"How about Scar?"

"As for Scar, we used to call him Taka. He was nice and okay, until a few days after our former king, King Ahadi, was choosing the next heir between the two brothers. And apparently it was Mufasa he chose. After the King's decision, Taka started being distant with Mufasa and his father. What's worse is he became more depressed after the tragic death of his grandfather, former king Mohatu."

"What happened to him?" He asked, a concerned tone on his voice.

"He died in a stampede of wildebeests, no one knew who or what started it. We saw Taka running towards the priderock, tears running down his eyes. He informed us about what just happened, he led us to where king Mohatu is. I've never seen queen Uru so heartbroken that time, seeing her father lying down dead. It took more than two weeks for queen Uru to recover from his father's death. After a few days was the funeral of former king Mohatu. He was buried in a place where they usually bury the royalties that passed away."

"Well that's unfortunate, so the story behind Scar was a depressing one the whole time." Charles said, Sarabi agreed with him by nodding.

"If you want to know the full story behind it, I suggest you ask Mufasa for it."

"Alright, I'll go ask him. In the right moment of course."

The lionesses came back carrying a antelope and a warthog, it's time to eat. Wasn't surprised that the warthog tastes like pig, except with a tastier flavor.

After eating his meal, Charles went back to his resting spot in the cave, and took his journal and wrote again.

 _What date is today again?...oh yeah Novermber 23, my birthday..._

He now proceeds to write in his journal.

 _November 23, 2072_

 _Just another day in the Pridelands, except for one thing. Found a whole collection of audio tapes and a audio recorder to play them. It definitely came from people who once resided in the bunker I found, it sounds like they're Italians. Going to listen the rest of the tapes when I have the time._

He returned the journal to his bag and grab the radio he brought from the bunker. The batteries were in it, but it only made static noises. The radio has a tape in labeling: **Music.**

It shows several categories in it:

 **Classical music**

 **Military march songs**

 **Celebratory Songs**

 _ **Canzoni di Natale**_

He re-insert the tape and turn on the radio again, the screen of it lit up.

He chose the **Happy Happy Songs** , the title made him curious on what it has.

 **Celebratory Songs**

 **Happy Birthday song**

 **New Year Song**

The birthday song caught his attention, since it is his birthday. Before pressing it, he lowered the volume of it as to not bother the lionesses resting in the den. The radio made a few noises before it became silent again. Then a soft voice came from it.

 _Happy Birthday to You!_

 _Happy Birthday to You!_

 _Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday to You!_

 _Happy Birthday to You!_

 _Happy Birthday to You!_

 _Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday to You!_

He sighed, _Some birthday this is, happy birthday to me..._

He missed the times where he could simply enjoy his birthday with his family, but the thought of his family only made him miss them more. He started having questions in his mind.

 _Did they survive the crash? But that's a very low chance, the engines are on fire and the plane was heavily damaged by a missile attack._

 _If so, are they stranded somewhere as well? Had they been rescued?_

Thoughts kept coming in and out of Charles' mind, with all this stress he decides to sleep instead.

November 23, 2071

 **Charles' POV**

Another 5 hours of practice in piano and violin with my friends at their house.

The whole room was dark, except for a cake with candles on top of it. A number 17 on it. Then the whole room suddenly lit up with light.

" _Happy 17th Birthday Charles!"_

There they were, the whole family including my dad, mom, lil' brother, my sister, my maternal grandparents, and my _Onkel,_ smiles on all of their faces.

"Come on dear, blow the candle!" mother said while beaming, a happy tone in her voice.

They cheered and clapped as I blew the candle signifying my 17th Birthday.

After that, chatters and conversations started filling in the room.

My grandparents and uncle gave their greetings, and now my parents approached me.

"Happy Birthday son, time is fast. Isn't it? I remember when we were celebrating your 10th Birthday. Look at you now, you are now 17 and soon going to be 18 next year."

"Like they said mom, time flies." she wrapped me in a tight embrace, we both seperated with each other after that. Then father spoke "Son, happy birthday. I'm sorry I couldn't attend your 15th and 16th birthday."

"It's ok dad, I understand that you're busy during those years. But at least you're now here." father gave me a hug, patting me in the back.

"I'll be back dad, just gotta return my things to my room."

(Third-Person View)

He carried his violin back to room upstairs, he heard her mother calling him while walking outside of his room, "Charles, come down here. Dinner is served, and cake afterwards"

"Alright I'm coming!"He went down the stairs to join his family in dinner.

 **2 hours later**

After the birthday celebration of Charles, most went back to their bedrooms and sleep. Except for Charles himself, polishing his violin using a piece of cloth. He looked at the clock, **10:23 pm.**

 _Time to sleep_

He finish cleaning the instrument and set it aside. He was about to went to his bed when he heard someone knocking at the front door downstairs.

He peek through the peephole of the door and saw three of his good friends, Ryan Conor, and Fergus McCormack.

"Hey it's us, Charles. Are you in there?" Ryan asked.

"Wait a second." He whispered, unlatching the locks of the door.

He opened the door, the three borthers came in with something behind them.

"HAPPY BIRTH-" Charles silenced them before they could create more noise, that could wake the people in his house.

"Shhh... My family's asleep."

"Sorry, Happy Birthday Charles." Ryan whispered.

"We brought something cooked by our mother." Conor said, revealing a small casserole.

"Thanks, please give my gratitudes to your mother."

"Since everybody's asleep, except you. And we're pretty hungry, again, from all the walking. Maybe the four of us could have a late night snack, ey?" Ryan asked, "Don't worry we'll save the rest for your family and relatives." Charles thought for a while before agreeing, since he's quite hungry as well.

"Alright, so what was the dish that your mother cooked?" He asked.

"Our mother's Shepherd's pie!" Ryan said, opening the lid of the casserole, letting the smell of it escape from the container.

Charles got four plates and spoons from a drawer in the kitchen, while the brothers set the casserole in the table.

"It's time to eat." And with that, they started eating the tasty pie of lamb and potatoes.

"I almost forgot" Ryan told Charles, "We found this in front of your door, we guessed it's for you." He said, handing a cream-colored box to him.

The box has a tag saying: _For Charles_

He opened the box and looked what was inside, it was a small cake with various fruits topped on it.

A letter was also tucked inside the box

He took it and started reading it.

 _To my dear friend Charles,_

 _Happy Birthday! I'm sorry I couldn't come to your birthday or at least pass by for a while, need to help my aunt clean her store after the practice. I gave you this cake as a gift instead for you and your family and friends to share._

 _Your good friend,_

 _S. Phillips_

After reading the letter, he placed the box at the kitchen counter.

"Is that dessert?" Conor asked, surprising him from behind.

"Eh...Yeah. Wanna share?"

"You sure, you want to? It's a special gift from your **good friend** " Fergus asked. Now Charles is starting to hesitate, he finally agreed after a while.

 _Sharing is caring anyway_

"Yes. Like it says in the letter from her, share it with your family and friends." Charles set down the cake in the table, he did want to try a taste of it.

"You guys are really hungry, did you guys even ate dinner?" He asked.

"We only ate a light one, about 6:00 pm. We were busy trying to deliver things. And Fergus attended a Science convention hosted by the school he's attending." Conor replied.

"Deliver what _**things**_?" He asked.

"Packages, letters and any messages." Ryan was the one who responded this time.

"Why are you guys the ones doing the job anyway?"

The oldest of the brothers took a gulp of water before responding "We volunteered for it, we need to earn extra money, this is one of the only jobs available for it."

"But why?" Charles asked.

"We need a few additional cash to pay for the rent of our house. That bastard of a landlord keeps threatening our mother to pay the rent, or be evicted." Ryan sighed.

"Since you guys have little choice, you guys could've called me for help with the delivering."

Conor shook his head "Thanks for the offer Charles but, nah. Besides, you gotta focus on your-" He was interrupted by another voice.

"Well, well, well...having a snack. Eh?" The voice came from Charle's uncle, standing in the dark corridor near the stairs.

"Hello uncle Walter."

"Good evening uncle, you're still awake."

"Yes. I was desiring a good midnight snack." Said Walther. Approaching the dining table. "I can smell the aroma of beef and mashed potatoes from my room." he continued, looking at the casserole "Shepherd's pie?" He asked. "May I join in?" The four of them nodded. And they started continuing their meal, with Charles' uncle now included.

 **I hoped you guys enjoyed the chapter! Sorry again for not updating for a long time(For 1 month), I was very busy(again). And my hobbies at home is not only writing, other than playing a few video games( e.g. War Thunder, Garry's Mod, Verdun, and Fallout New Vegas) and reading some books(Mostly history and military books), I'm also learning on how to play a piano. Some of you probably noticed that I edited some parts in a few of my chapters, specifically chapter 5 and chapter 2. Just some minor changes.**

 **[1] TFSS-45 Tactical Marksman Silencer- Just a fictional firearm silencer.**


	8. Chapter 8: The Rescuer gets rescued

**Hello! A little note though, I think you guys noticed that I put a small extra part about Charles' life before the plane crash. I may add it sometimes and sometimes not. And please give reviews and constructive criticism on my chapters so I can improve them in case. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Gathering in front of the priderock was a whole different variant of animals, from the zebras to the giraffes, from the elephants to the impalas. On top of the promontory of the priderock was the king of the pridelands, King Mufasa. Then came a mandrill walking between the animals, it was Rafiki, the shaman of the pridelands. He climbed up to the promontory (I don't know what's the proper name of that part of the priderock). He approached King Mufasa who was nuzzling his mate, Queen Sarabi, their cub wrapped around her paw. He shakes his stick, catching the attention of the cub. He gets a gourd and cracks it, using the juice of it to draw a line the cub's head. He grabs a handful of dirt, and spreads it in front of the cub's face, causing it to sneeze. After that, he grabs the cub and went outside to the tip of the priderock. Upon arriving at the tip, he raises the cub high up to the sky (Not literally). Seeing it, the animals cheered. It was the ceremony for the new prince, the new heir to the royal throne, Prince Simba.

 **1 weeks later**

The newborn cubs have been growing well lately, and now has been able to walk and open their eyes.

Other than helping the lionesses hunt for food, Charles was assigned to help the pride watch their cubs while they're busy hunting. Today seems just like a normal day, _looks like a normal day._

Charles was just washing his clothes in the waterhole, when he heard rustling in the bushes near him. He grab his pistol and aimed at the bushes, in case anything hostile pops out of it.

"Who's there, reveal yourselves!"

A small lion cub stepped out of it, followed by two lionesses "Hey Charles, what ya doing?" asked the young cub.

"Oh it's just you, Simba, Imani, and Xyrisse." Noticing the young lioness as well. Charles stood up and squeeze his shirt top dry up the remaining water. "How's your leg doing anyway, Imani?" He asked the lioness, who has a makeshift splint he made for the lioness' leg. The injuries came from a hunting accident five days ago.

"As to answer your question Simba, just washing my clothes." Simba gave him a weird look, "Why don't you have any fur?"

He grab his clothes and bag, and responded "Unlike lions, we don't have any fur to protect us from the cold and provide warmth." He started walking, with Simba and Xyrisse in tow "We make clothes that could do the same like your fur do, We don't grow fur naturally. But of course, This cannot fully protect me from extreme coldness, but it's still useful."

Simba finally getting the idea of it, nods slowly "Okay, that explains it."

"But you do have a mane."Simba said, "Mane? Oh, it's what we call hair. It's slightly different from the mane you have." Charles replied, figured what Simba said was probably the hair on his head.

They're now in a small waterhole, Charles stepped in it. Trying to fell the temperature of the water, he gasped in surprise. It's very hot from the intense heat of the sun.

"Maybe I should just take a bath later, perhaps later in the afternoon." They were about to head back to the priderock, when they heard something.

"What's that noise?"Xyrisse wondered.

To Charles, it actually sounds familiar. The noise, it's like...like the sound of a plane crashing.

The sound of a crashing plane was soon followed by a jetplane, fire and black smoke trailing behind it.

The plane flew beyond to the jungle, then came a loud crash.

"'Woah, what is that?" wondered Simba.

"Should we check it out Charles?" Xyrisse asked Charles, who responded with a nod.

Before going into the jungle, Charles motioned them to stop. Charles turned his attention towards both of them.

"You guys stay here first, I'll go check it to see if it's safe." With that, he ventured into the jungle. Passing through several trees, he noticed that some of them starting to have burn marks and smoke as he wandered deeper.

After a few minutes, he heard a few gunshots. Which made him prepare his rifle at ready for any possible threat, the gunshots were soon followed by whimpers.

He was soon in an opening in the jungle, with a crashed jetplane in the middle of it. Small craters filled with smoke and several debris scattered in the area, on top of the cockpit of the aircraft is a man. He's definitely the pilot, holding a pistol on his left hand and a trench club in the right. Several carcasses of hyenas lay in the ground.

"Come at me, you bloody scroungers!" He shouted. Firing at one of the hyenas, hitting its neck. A hyena was about to attack him from behind, but was smacked by his club. Sending the unfortunate hyena a few meters away, the impact was so strong that it flew the hyena away.

The pilot fired two more shots at a pair of hyenas running towards him, the first hyena was shot in the head, causing it to faceplant in the dirt. While the second got hit in the neck, it jerked a bit before its death.

Charles soon realized that the man's outnumbered by the hyenas, which means he needs to help him before it's too late.

He aimed his rifle at one of the hyenas near the pilot, and squeezed the trigger. The bullet managed to hit the cranium of the hyena, killing it instantly. The hyenas haven't noticed him yet, probably thinking it was the pilot who opened fire on one of them. He took this as a chance, and quickly fired at two more hyenas. One hit a hyena in the belly while the second bullet killed a hyena in one of its hind legs. With the hyena howling in pain, he fired another one to end its misery.

The hyenas are now only 3 of them. The number of hyenas decreased to two when the pilot struck another hyena in the muzzle with his trench club.

A hyena was sneaking up to the man, trying to lunge on him from the back. Charles noticed this and took him down before the hyena could take the chance. The pilot noticed where the gunfire came from and saw Charles, not knowing if he was shocked under the tinted visor of the helmet. Before he could strike the last hyena with his blunt weapon, the last one fled before he could end up like his fellow hyenas.

With the hyena threat repelled, the pilot hopped off the cockpit to meet the man who helped him.

The pilot took his helmet off to reveal a man with medium brown hair similar to Charles', except it's trimmed in a crew cut. (Trying to be descriptive I guess)

"Thanks for helping me here. But I'm very surprised that there's someone here in this vast wilderness of Africa." The man came nearer to Charles, observing the young lad. The pilot's green eyes widened "You look familiar, lad, what's your name?"

"Charles, Charles Harrison." His eyes further widened upon hearing the name.

"Charles Harrison...Charles Williams Harrison! Right? It's incredible, you're alive!" A tone of excitement was in the pilot.

"Woah woah, woah. Calm down sir, let's sit down and talk." They both sat at two rocks nearby and resumed their conversation.

"Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, the name's Lewis Clarke of the British Royal AirForce."

Charles was surprised, he didn't expect it to be a rescuer from his country. But the model of the fighter plane and color scheme shows it belonging to the Royal Airforce, the EuroFighter ThunderBird II [1] "So you're from the RAF? What exactly happened to your plane?"

Lewis took a deep breath before responding, "Yes, I was assigned to a search and rescue mission to search for the flight that was supposed to head to Kenya. It just suddenly disappeared on Sunday, August 14, 2072. As to answer your second question, I was just on a patrol, when I was suddenly attacked by flak fire from a mountain. Almost got hit by a missile too. When I was able to finally evade the flakfire and missile, I noticed that my plane's fuel got damaged by a few minor shrapnel. I managed to fly for about 20 minutes more before I ended up crashing here. It did led me to you."

Charles was starting to knew which plane it is, August 14, he remembered as the day their plane was attacked by a missile. "So they're starting to search for the crashed plane. Are there any survivors that have been found yet?"

"So far, we haven't found any survivors yet, only a few debris from the plane. We're still finding the main parts of the aircraft and the passengers. The only survivor that we have found yet is, You. Of course the commanders in the airbase haven't know it yet."

"Who do you think attacked the plane?" asked Charles.

"Since I followed the route of the plane where we last detected it, and along the way was a UIA anti-air outpost[2]. I have finally confirmed my suspicions that it was the UIA who launched the missile, don't know why though."

He was surprised, but at the same time expected the UIA to do it. Britain and UIA's relations have been really tense since the last three years.

So, what's happening back in England anyway? Anything important or critical that happened?" Lewis was rubbing his chin before finally saying something, "The news these days are mostly about the war against those fascists[3], UIA troops have occupied several parts of Nice in France and are now mobilizing towards Avignon. The Prime Minister deployed some battalions and armoured brigades to assist the French Army." he continued, "Several naval bases in America was attacked by UIA battleships, destroyers and shiphunters[4]. The British Embassy in Sierra Leone was attacked by two UIA infantry battalions, the firefight lasted about three weeks before the UIA retreated. The embassy was lucky that there were two armoured brigades and 4 platoons guarding it."

"4 platoons of men and two armoured brigades? Didn't know they put that much firepower to protect the embassy."

"Not really surprised, there were reports of UIA scouts near the border of Sierra Leone. They're possibly planning an invasion."

Charles nodded "That did made sense for the heavy presence of the mili-" Before he could finish, he was cut off by a voice from the distance.

"Charles are you there?" The pilot looked at Charles after looking at the direction where the voice came from. "I didn't know there was someone with you."

Charles immediately knew who he was referring to, "It's...complicated but I don't think you're gonna believe this."

"There's more survivors of the plane with you?" Lewis asked.

"No."

"Some tribesmen or indigenous people?"

"No."

"So who is it then?" After what Lewis just said, the voice can be heard again. "Charles, Charles where are you?" There was commotion in the bush, Lewis aimed his pistol at the bush. What came out shocked him, a lioness.

"Charles, there you are! I've been looking for you. What took-" Her sentence was interrupted by a scream of fear and surprise.

"OHH! It's a bloody lioness!" He aimed his firearm at her, the lioness started to snarl towards him as well "And she TALKS?!" Charles blocked both of them before they could possibly harm each other "Woah, woah, woah. Lower your gun sir, she's not hostile. She is a friend of mine."

Lewis recoiled at what he just said to him "A FRIEND of yours?! You befriended a lioness... I'm surprised she didn't eat you. This must be a dream, no...a nightmare." Lewis tried pinching his arm several times and even slapped himself, but it was no use. "Why won't I wake up!?"

"Because you aren't asleep, you're not in a dream nor in a nightmare. Don't worry, I got the same reaction when I was rescued by talking lions." Charles simply shrugged, while Xyrisse stared at the new human in awe and curiosity. Simply saying "Another human." After breaking away from her stare, she looked at the whole crash scene.

"What just happened here? What is that?" She said, pointing at the crashed plane with debris and smoke littering around.

"That's what we call a plane, we used that as a transportation for flying." Lewis calmly told her, apparently recovered from his panicking while ago. The lioness raised her eyebrows, "Woah, so you guys have the ability to fly?"

"We don't naturally have the ability to fly, we have to build these for the purpose of transportation." He explained it to her in the simplest way he could. She nodded slowly.

"Oh pardon me where are my manners, Lewis, I would like you to meet my friend, Xyrisse. Xyrisse meet Lewis." He pulled the shoulders of both Lewis and Xyrisse closer to him. "Nice to...meet you Xyrisse."greeted Lewis, "Nice to meet you too" she nodded lightly. Charles smiled at the two of them, knowing that they're friends now, probably. "Good, good. Now that you guys both know each other, let us put away our hostilities, eh?"

"Xyrisse? Charles? Are you guys there?" a voice outside of the forest called them.

Xyrisse mentally slapped herself, "Sorry Charles, I forgot to tell you that the pride has been looking for you. We're not the only who saw the...plane."

"How long had I been in the forest?" he asked, "Around ten minutes."

"Ten minutes? Didn't know I stayed that long. Alright, let's go back. The others are probably worried by now." He grab his rifle and stood up from the rock.

"Wait, gotta grab my things before we meet with the rest of this pride you're speaking of." He return to his crashed jet and opened a secret hatch in the fuselage, grabbing a duffel bag inside it.

"I'm done, let's go." Walking out of the forest, they found the lions waiting for them, including the king of pridelands. Lewis was very nervous at the pride of lions in front of them, his forehead sweating heavily. King Mufasa was accompanied by four lionesses.

Then the king of the pride spoke, "My name is King Mufasa. What is your name and what are your intentions here in the pridelands?" the lion calmly said.

He took a deep breath, and bowed. "Greetings, your Majesty." he said noting what Charles said earlier about the alpha male lions titled as kings. "My name is Lewis Clarke. I came here on an unfortunate accident, my... plane that I used to fly was shot down by...our enemies."

The king was slightly confused "Enemies? And you guys could fly? I would like to hear more about that later." The king was definitely interested in what Lewis just said.

"As you wish, sire. As for my intentions here in your pride, my king. I was on a mission to locate and search for survivors of a terrible accident, and I found one." He said, pointing towards Charles. "Your Majesty, may I request your permission to stay in the pridelands for... a few weeks or possibly longer. I will be needing to contact for help."

"I see, as for your request to stay in the Pridelands. I accept it. You can stay here as long as you want."The king gave a smile to the human.

Lewis bowed once again, "Thank you sire, I will payback your kindness for letting me in someday." He said, returning the smile.

"Now that this is all settled, let's now return to the priderock." King Mufasa went to the opposite way, with the lionesses following behind him.

While they were walking, Charles could hear murmurs about the new human. The young prince,Simba, was staring at Lewis with curiosity. Lewis noticed this and looked at the cub, "Hello there young one, what's your name?" he asked with a smile.

Simba smiled back"Simba, Simba is my name. Nice to meet you, so you're a human?"

"Nice to meet you too. Yes, I'm a human, just like your friend Charles."

"Cool, so was that flaming gigantic bird the plane you're saying while ago?"

"Yes...that is the plane I'm talking about." Simba nodded, a smile still on his face. King Mufasa, the lionesses, and Charles were in front of them, they continue their talk.

"So what do you think about Charles?" the RAF pilot asked.

"He's nice, unlike what the old stories our elders told us. He also plays with us sometimes, but he can be overprotective sometimes just like the other lionesses in the pride."

"There is a reason he's protective of you and the other cubs. You're all still too young to defend yourselves, especially against the dangers of the wild, like hyenas and rogue lions."

"Hmm...You're probably right." They're now in front of the giant rock that is the Priderock, the place where the lions live.

Lewis was impressed at the size of the rock, and how it was used by a pride of lions as shelter. They walk up to a slop leading to the cave of the priderock, where another group of lionesses were dragging two carcasses of antelopes

"Looks like it's lunch time. You hungry?" The question was answered by a rumble coming from Lewis' stomach.

"I haven't ate for 5 hours. So yeah, I am starving." They took a slice from the antelope, and sat down somewhere to cook their food. Charles took out a portable grill[5] and switch it on.

"Where did you get the grill?" He took a few pieces of charcoal he had in a makeshift sack, and placed it inside the grill.

"In a bunker I found 2 months ago, that's where I also found the guns I have."

"Is there anything else in there?"

"There's a lot of useful thing in there that has helped me for months, I even found a radio. But it's broken." He said, starting to cook the meat.

"A radio? I've got to check it later. But now, let's eat."

After eating their meals, Lewis followed Charles to the bunker he previously mentioned.

Charles showed Lewis the radio to let him examine it, he place it in the desk"So this is the radio, let's see what's damaged in it." He started searching through the drawers "Any screwdrivers here?" He took a toolbox from the corner of the room and gave him the screwdriver.

"Thanks." He opened the rear cover of the radio and analyzed it, "Tsk tsk tsk, most of the interior parts are damaged. The power cords' cut, volume control is fried, the tubes and IF transformers are missing, and the antennas are broken. Looks like this is going to take a long time to fix." he looked around the room, "Are there any spare parts here?" Charles shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not. Let's search for them, if there's any."

After minutes of searching and ransacking through the containers and desk drawers, no spare parts for the radio were found.

"Well that's unfortunate, no reserve parts for the radio. Guess we can't fix it."

"So what now?" asked Charles.

"I guess we have to find for help ourselves." he stood up "Let's just head back to the priderock."

"Alright then."

They left the bunker and returned to the priderock. While on the way to the priderock, Lewis suddenly spoke "Say, what's your age?"

"Just become 18 last month."

"18?" he nodded.

"How about you?" Charles returned the question to him.

"Me? I'm 25, going to be 26 next year on February." The rest of the walk to the pridelands was just silence between the two.

The two were finally near the priderock when Charles spoke "What is in that duffel bag anyway?"

Hearing the question of Charles, he set down the duffel bag "I'll show you." He unzipped the bag and pulled out a carbine, which widened Charles' eyes.

"A Sterling Tactical Carbine model 2-70[6], cool."

"Yeah, it's decent and reliable." He said, taking the clip out and inspecting it.

"And what's the gun you're using while ago?" Charles asked, he didn't recognize the model of the handgun he's using.

Lewis pulled out the handgun he was using while ago, "This? This is the new pistol they gave us a month ago, the T-272[7] service pistol. It's nice, has a bigger clip than the SIG Sauer P265[8] and uses a 50 cal. round."

"They issued a new handgun?" Lewis nodded, "So what are they going to do with the P265s?"

"The government will give the remaining guns to the police, they'll replace the standard police Glock-42[9]." Lewis continued his ransacking of the duffel bag, and pulled out a small radio. He sighed "Too bad it's broken during the crash." He return the damaged radio to the bag and pulled out a sleeping bag. "Where am I going to take a sleep?"

"I usually sleep here in the cave, but I do sleep in the bunker sometimes when I want to be alone. Or at least a more peaceful place to rest." He said, pointing at the spot where he sleeps in the cave.

"Alright I guess I will try the cave first, if it's comfy enough."

The sun is starting to set, the color of the sky becoming a shade of orange. It's nearly night time and the lionesses returned with a zebra. After the meal, a group of lionesses approached the two humans and sat beside them.

"Hello Charles, Hello Lewis. Did I get your name right?" One of the lionesses, Kacela asked. Lewis nodded. "Cool, another human. My name's Kacela. Let me introduce to you to some of the lionesses in our pride."

Kacela introduced Lewis to Imani, Anaya, Umayma, Sarafina, Afia, and lastly, Xyrisse.

"And I believe you've previously met Xyrisse." Kacela said, with Xyrisse beside her, a smile on her face.

Lewis returned it "Yes, I did. It's nice to meet you all. I must thank you all again for letting me into this pride."

"No problem Charles, it's a pleasure to have you here." Xyrisse said, a grin still on her face.

King Mufasa's majordomo, Zazu, flew in and landed beside Lewis. He cleared his throat beofre speaking "Excuse me, sir. But may I inform that the king wants to have a talk with you." The blue hornbill pointed towards the entrance of the cave, where the king is sitting.

"Sure, I'm going. See you later Charles." He stood up and went to king Mufasa, hoping this conversation will go well.

* * *

 **December 14, 2072**

 **Somewhere in the Savannah's of Kenya, Africa.**

In the blue skies of Kenya, a fighter jet plane is flying high in the sky. The fighter jet, a modified Eurofighter Thunderbird II repurposed for search-and rescue missions[10]. In the cockpit of the pilot, sat flying officer Lewis Clarke.

"This is RAF FrontlineAirBase-Uganda[11], Flight-372 Patrol no.3[12] can you hear me?"

"This is Flight-372 Patrol no.3, yes I can hear you."

"Patrol no.3, any signs of the plane?"

"Negative sir, no traces of debris or possible survivors of the missing flight."

"Okay, return to base after 40 minutes."

"Will comply."

The radio became silent, with no response from the airbase. A whistling noise came near, nearer and nearer.

"What is that?" He looked towards the right side and it answered his question, from a hill came several tracers of flak flying towards him.

Lewis' eyes widened at the sight of them, he began using evasive maneuvers to avoid the flakfire. The whole sky was soon filled with the thundering booms of flak shells.

"RAF FrontlineAirBase-Uganda, MAYDAY! MAYDAY! I'm under attack!" the only response to him was static.

"Dangit, RAF FrontlineAirBase-Uganda. I am under attack. I repeat, I am under attack. Can you copy me?" Still static. He heard a metallic impact to the fuselage of his jet. Definitely from a shraphnel.

Then, the flakfire ceased. But why? He heard another whistle, but it was slightly different. Seeing the source of the sound, he gasped in fear. 2 missiles coming towards him at full speed, his radar beeping.

The missiles burst out and multiplied into several more missiles. He pressed the button for deploying countermeasures, the flares instantly come out off its compartment. The missiles now went for the decoy instead of the jet, fortunately.

His forehead was sweating heavily after the encounter, he sighed and took a deep breath "Man, that was so close. Who in the world are those guys?!" He noticed a trail of smoke behind him, coming from his plane. He looked at the fuel gauge, it dropped significantly low. A fuel leak, which means he won't be able to fly for longer durations. He had to find somewhere to land, at least a small airfield will suffice. If there's any.

 **5 minutes ago**

 **UIA Mountain AirDefence Outpost Sector 6, Kenya, East Africa.**

A huge outpost lays proudly in the crest of a mountain. It had several S.A.M. Launchers deployed in the vincity, with a few mobile MFP vehicles for additional anti-air firepower. A brigade of T-14 Armatas[13] and Strv-2/67 [14] patrolling the grounds for possible hostile threats. In the center of the crest is a building used as the headquarters of the faction, with radars and antennas stretching out of the top. A path leading out and into the outpost, the way to get into it is driving or walking along the long paths of the mountain.

A jeep drove in the path, heading towards the outpost. The jeep finally halted into the gate of the outpost, with a pillbox and an infantryman guarding it. The driver of the jeep reached his hand to give a Identification Card to the guard. The guard took and read it for a while, before returning it and raising the barrier of the gates. The guard bid the driver, "Have a nice day sir." before the jeep continued its way into the base. The jeep stopped in front of the headquarters, a man stepped out of the vehicle, looking at the decent-sized HQ. Several militarypolice men stood in a single line to greet the man. An officer came out of the headquarters, walking towards the jeep. The man took a deep breath, and approached the officer. The officer gave a salute to the man, he returned it to the officer.

"Welcome to the Mountain-ADF Sector 6 of Kenya, Generalmajor Valerius Bergfalk." he calmly responded "What's your name officer?"

"Sorry sir, where are my manners. Heiberg Bergström, sir. Sector-6 Supervising Officer of this base. Good to meet you sir." He stretched his out to, the General accepted it and they both shake hands.

"Now that this is all settled, may we enter the HQ?" Officer Heiberg nodded "As you wish sir." He looked back at the MilitaryPolicemen, "You may now return to your assigned positions." The MPs gave a salute and complied to the officer's command.

After showing Generalmajor Valerius the defence armoury, mess hall, sleeping quarters of the officers, Security office, and the recreation room. Supervising Officer Bergström led him into a heavily reinforced blast door guarded by four soldiers "This is the way to the surveillance room, sir." The four soldiers gave a salute to both the officer and the general, the officer and general saluted back. He pressed a button, revealing a hand security scanner and lens out of the wall. He put his right hand into the hand scanner first, receiving a *beep* from it. He then faced one of his eye on the lens, it beeped after a few seconds, revealing it to be an eye scanner. After those security processes, an robotic voice came to life "Security Procedures Complete." A hiss came from the door before finally opening, revealing a room. The room was filled with computer screens, the personnel busy in their workdesks.

Heiberg gasped, he was about to scold them for not acknowledging the presence of a general. But the Generalmajor himslef shrugged it off "No need for that, just let them continue their work. It's good to see that they're well-focused in their job." The officer turned his back at the general, he took a deep breath and wiped his forehead * _Phew* That was close, glad the general is a calm-mannered person. Hope this day will turn out well._

He turned back to the general, he was about to speak to him. But a loud beep from one of the screens interrupted him.

"Officer Hayes, what's the problem?"

The officer looked at him "Sir, you've gotta look this." Heiberg went to the officer and took a closer look at the screen.

"Looks like an unidentified aircraft sir." He rubbed his chin, the officer looked at him again"Sir, what should we do with it?"

"Please zoom it closer."

Officer Hayes zoomed it closer, showing it to be a ThunderBird II "A EuroFighter Thunderbird, impressive. But only one airforce currently uses that in Africa. The Royal AirForce. Intervening tea-drinkers..."(No offense) Heiberg muttered the last phrases quietly.

"What do you think are the Englishmen doing here sir?"

"It's definitely a reconaissance plane. Shoot it down."

 **UIA 54th AA-support platoon, outside of Mountain ADO-Sector 6 HQ, Kenya**

"Hey Lindholm, take watch for a while. I'm gonna take a nap for a few minutes." Heimer Lindholm, the loader of the MFP vehicle[15] nodded "Yes, sir."

He took one of the soft sacks and rest his head on it, he sighed in relief "Ahhh... Finally, rest." Just when he thought he could take a nap after staying awake for 26 hours straight without sleep, a loud ring came from the radio. He groaned "Damm- Just when I could finally take a decent sleep." He picked up the radio and answered it "Hello...who is this?" He took his cup of coffee and took a sip.

"Good day Lieutenant Magnusson! This is Supervising Officer Heiberg Bergström." Upon hearing the name, he nearly chocked his coffee. He cleared his throat "Good day to you too sir! In what manner may I help you?"

"Take a look at the sky." He was slightly confused but followed it anyway.

"Okay I'm out sir." He looked at a window in the HQ, The Supervising Officer himself is waving at him. "Look around, see anything?" He looked around and saw something in the horizon, a plane.

"You see a plane?"

"Yes sir, we're gonna shoot it down?" He hoped he guessed it right "Good guess Löjtnat! Use those 70mm cannons well."

"With pleasure sir." He smiled, they could finally test out the newly-issued 70mm flak autocannons. But his smile disappeared at the same time, he hoped they targeted the right plane this time. Rumours of the plane shot down 4 months ago is really a commercial airline, not a spy plane disguised as one.

He pulled out the radio "Alright kamrater! We got a new task, see that fighter jet? Weapons free."

The starting engines of the MFPs howl through the base, all the commanders and crew members that aren't in their respective vehicles started scrambling back towards their MFPs. Commander Magnusson, leader of the 54th AA-support platoon, hopped in his own vehicle.

"Are the weapons ready?" Magnusson asked. The gunner toggled several switches and switched on the weapons system. "Yes sir."

"Good." He peeked through the periscope to see where the target is. There it is, the RAF Thunderbird II flying in the distance. Unaware of the bulletstorm it's going to have.

"Mantis 2, what's your status?"

"Ready, sir."

"Mantis 3, what your status?"

"Ready."

"Mantis 4, what is your status?"

"Ready, sir."

"Alright, concentrate on the RAF Thunderbird. Fire when ready."

He looked at the target range meter, 55 meters, 50 meters "Fire!"

The booming flakfire echoed through the base, tracers flying towards the plane.

"Keep firing, keep firing!" The plane started dashing aroumd the sky to avoid the shraphnels of shells fired upon it, the Lieutenant noticed a small spark hitting the fuselage of the jet.

"Looks like we got a small hit at it!" he cheered. A smoke trail was behind the aircraft, its oil leaking.

After a few minutes, it seems that the 70mm flak shells aren't enough to take it out. "Looks like we got a no-kill."

He dialed in the radio and called the Supervising Officer "Sir it's fleeing away now, should we cease fire?"

"...Yes, switch to the missiles instead."

"The missiles?"

"Yes." The officer simply said, they're going to use the _Jägare_ 1x6 Heat-seeking SAMs[16]. Missiles that could multiply into six more smaller, agile homing missiles. "Roger." he turned off the radio and approached the loader.

"Switch to the _Jägare_ SAMs." The loader nodded, switching on the missile launcher system. "Missiles ready."

"Fire when I said so."

"Target locked, sir."

"Away!" The two missile were released from the pods at the two sides of the turret, it started accelerating towards the plane at high altitude. It burst in a tiny explosion before multiplying into six missiles, following the Thunderbird. The plane deployed its flares, distracting the heat-seekers into it. The fighter jet left the place with little damage, except for it's fuel storage.

He called the Supervising Officer in the radio again, "Sir, the plane retreated. But it's fuel's leaking." He hoped the S.O. Is not in a bad mood.

"Good, it's not going to last longer in the sky anyway. Let nature do the rest. You and your platoon still did a fine job securing this base."

"Thank you sir, it's our mission to do so."

"Exactly, you and your men can now return to your current positions." Then the radio went silent. "Ahh... Finally, now I can take my rest."

* * *

 **That was the end of chapter 8! I'm sorry again for updating slowly, I'm very busy and exam is next week already. I may not update for about 4-8 weeks, depends on how busy I am. But hey it's near the end of the school! :D FINALLY After the exams will be the end of our schoolyear so that's great.**

 **[1] The EuroFighter ThunderBird II is a twin-engine, multirole jet fighter designed and manufactured by BAE Systems, EADS, and Trinity Armanents Industries. It's armed with two pulse autocannons for dogfighting and 6 Air-to-Air heat-seeking missiles.**

 **Countries that used this plane are:**

 **United Kingdom(2066-2078)=The multi-role fighter jet of the RAF.**

 **Austria(2068-2080)= Multi-role fighter jet of the** _ **Österreichische Luftstreitkräfte**_

 **Germany(2066-2078)=Used by the Luftwaffe, replaced by the HK-277**

 **Belgium(2068-2079)= Purchased the search-and-rescue variant**

 **Italy(2070-2083)=Purchased the search-and-rescue variant**

 **(All companies that exist in real life blongs to their respective owners, I don't own them). Except for Trinity Armanents Industries, it's a fictional company.**

 **[2] Anti-air outposts are commonly used by the UIA during the early stages of the war. Most of the equipment and facilities in these AA-outposts are: Reinforced walls surrounding the base, Hesco barriers for cover, garrisons for the men, watchtowers for better view, garages and motorpools for vehicles, machinegun nests for anti-infantry, barbed wires(Optional), headquarters building, a radar station, other defensive equipment, armoury, a bunker(Optional, in case of air raids by enemy forces), and lastly, Anti-Aircraft/Air Defence equipment(i.e. Flak batteries, SPAAGs, SAM launchers and MFPs). These outposts were very common until the end of the war.**

 **[3] Fascists are one of the nicknames of the UIA for their hatred against Muslims, Jews, and Slavs. However, the UIAs didn't originally resent Slavs. Only during the reign of Alexander Gianopoulos did he impose extermination of anyone with Slavic ancestry, one of the reasons why some general tried to assasinate him. In fact, there were many Slavic regiments, companies and divisions that fought under the UIA. Examples: 22nd Voluntary Regiment of Bulgaria, 35th Croatian Pioneers Company, 11th Serbian Infantry Support Division, and the Polish 34th Artillery Regiment.**

 **Many Serbians, Polish, and Czechs even used to support the former UIA Supreme Leader Basilius Stålhammar(His term duration: 2048-2073).**

 **[4] Shiphunters (Swedish:Fartyget Jägare) are a type of fast-attack, small-sized warships that are widely used by the UIA and sometimes, the CoN Navy. Its main armanents are high-speed torpedoes, commonly 15-20 of them in one. It's secondary armaments are commonly heavy-caliber machineguns, 20mm autocannos or 40mm rocket launchers(All remote-controlled).**

 **[5] The portable grill Charles found is actually a Versatility Cook System-42, like what its name implies, it has multiple functions and available methods of cooking food. Includin Grilling, boiling, broiling, steaming, stewing, roasting, sauteing, pan-frying, deep-frying, poaching, simmering and braising(Nope, no baking feature,yet). Designed and Manufactured by Survivalist Division of the OE Industries.**

 **[6] Sterling Tactical Carbine model 2-70 is a semi-automatic pulse energy carbine manufactured and designed by OE Industries. It was named after its designer, Steve Sterling. It uses a pulse energy cartridge as its ammunition. It was designed and tested in 2068-2069 and started mass-production in 2070. It was issued by the British Armed Forces as a PDW for Pilots and Officers, standard carbine for the British Police, and even has a civilian model manufactured in America, Australia, and UK. It was one of the first energy-based firearms to be mass-produced.**

 **Other countries that are users of this carbine:**

 **India(2071-2084)= Used by the Indian Police and Special Forces [Specifically, the Para Commandos, and the COBRA]**

 **Australia(2070-2090)=Used by the Australian Police**

 **United States of America(2074-2081)= 4,500 units were brought by the US Government for their Police**

 **New Zealand(2070-2081)=Used by the NZSAS**

 **Malaysia(2075-2083)=Issued to the Grup Gerak Khas(Special Service Group)**

 **[7] T-272 is a selective-fire handgun manufactured and designed by the Trinity Armoury Inc. It has two modes of firing, semi-automatic and 3-round burst. It uses a .357 round, more powerful than it's predecessor T-264, which uses a 38. round. It was designed in January 5, 2072 and started manufacturing in September 11, 2072.**

 **[8] SIG Sauer P265 is a handgun produced in 2065 by SIG Sauer. It uses a 7.62x39mm round.**

 **The users of the P265 are:**

 **Ethiopia(2066-2079)=Used by the Ethiopian Police**

 **United Kingdom(2066-2072)=Standard-issue handgun of the British Armed Forces and Police**

 **Austria(2065-2070)=Used by the Austrian Armed Forces, EKO Cobra, and _Jagdkommando_ Special Forces**

 **Poland(2066-2075)=Issued to the Polish Police and Reserve Forces**

 **Serbia(2065-2076)=License manufactured by the Serbian government, the P265S. Made a few modifications and changes with it, including higher-capacity magazine to hold more bullets.**

 **[9] Glock-42 is a selective-fire handgun designed and manufactured by GLOCK(Glock Ges.m.b.H), it was designed in 2041 and commenced production in August 4, 2043. It has two fire modes, automatic and semi-automatic fire. A small annual anniversary was held every year on August 4 in the company for celebrating the success of production of it for more than 700,000 units a year. Quarter of the money was donated towards the CoN-funded**

 **The countries that used this handgun are:**

 **Prussian Germany(2043-2069)=Used by the _BundesPolizei_ and the _SpezialEinsatzKommando_**

 **Philippines(2044-2072)=Used by the Philippine National Police(PNP) and SAF**

 **Nepal(2044-2060)=Issued to the Nepalese Police**

 **Republic of China(2043-2057)=Used by Special Police Corps of the National Police Agency**

 **Belgium(2044-2055)=Used by the Belgian Federal Police**

 **[10] RAF ThunderBird S.R./V is the search and rescue variant of the EuroFighter ThunderBird II**

 **[11] Flight-372 Patrol no. 3, the codename for Lewis' plane. The British AirForce assigned 10 pilots for the search of the missing Flight-372.**

 **[12] RAF FronlineAirBase-Uganda was built by the British Armed Forces as a substitute airbase for the Royal AirForce in case of attacks and damages on the primary airbase of RAF in Kenya. The RAF AirBase in Kenya was hit by 105mm artillery shells during the 17th Day of November, 2072, the runways in the airfield are damaged by the artillery barrage. Luckily, no person or aircraft was damaged by the attack. It is still uncomfirmed if it was UIA forces or rebels who did it, as they both possessed 105mm cannons but it was more likely the UIA who caused the artillery strike.**

 **[13] The T-14 Armatas were heavily used by the UIA in the 19-year War(The Great War). The Armatas were refitted with 152mm cannons, better engines, and upgraded Active Protection Systems(Trophy countermeasures).**

 **[14] Stridsvagn-2/67 is the Main Battle Tank of Sweden and one of the MBTs of the UIA. It was designed and manufactured by the cooperations of BulletStorm Corporations and Bofors AB. The Strv-2/67 was extensively used by the UIA in the Great War, until it was replace in 2081 by its successor, the Stridsvagn-2/80. Its main armament being a 200mm cannon and secondary armament is a 50 caliber coaxial MG and a remote weapon station armed with a pulse heavy repeater.**

 **[15] Mobile Flak Platforms are basically SPAAGs armed with automatic flak cannons. One example is the Stridsvagn-2/51SK, a modified Strv-2/51 armed with 70mm flak autocannons.**

 **[16] _Jägare 1x6_ Heat-seeking Surface-to-Air-Missiles used mainly by the Swedish Armed Forces(Supreme Leader Basilius Stålhammar formed the Swedish Armed Forces as an upgrade to the Defence Force) and the UIACF(United Independent Air Combat Force).**

 **Additional information and announcement:**

 **You can check out the Factions of the Great War: CoN at FictionPress to know more about the Coalition of Nations, I will create one about the UIA, Chinese Federation/Union, and the PTAS soon. There is a possiblity that I may constantly update its data.**

 **I will make a database about Generalmajor Valerius Bergfalk of the UIACF in one of the next chapters.**

 **I may sometimes add the backstory of Charles, and sometimes not. Please pardon me if I wrote some of them longer than the actual fanfic.**

 **Hoped you enjoy this chapter!**


	9. Chapter 9: Unpleasant Boneyard

**Good day! It's finally the end of our exams week(Yezzzzz), and it's near the end of our school. I still need to practice along with my classmates in a choir that we didn't even join, lel. Anyway, I am now starting to think if I should still continue on adding a few parts of Charles' life or not. So I'm gonna leave it to you guys on thinking whether I should add it or not. You can leave a comment, constructive criticism or suggestions if you like. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Lewis stood beside King Mufasa, he motioned the human to sit.

"How's your stay in the Pridelands?"

"It's nice, although I still need to get used to talking lions." King Mufasa gave him a weird look, he realized he might had offended him "Sorry, we're not used to lions that could talk. Back in my country, animals don't talk. Heck, even in other countries, they don't. This is the first time I ever heard an animal that actually has the ability to talk to us humans."

The king nodded, now understanding what he meant **"** I see, we didn't have much contact with humans for years. Possibly the reason why humans didn't know we could speak. **"** Lewis had no idea how to explain this, but give in anyway.

"Yes... maybe that's why."

"Are there any other prides around here?" He asked, Mufasa nodded.

"Yes, but they're far away from this place. It will take probably take a few days to the nearest pride."

"So where is the nearest pride located at?" Mufasa pointed towards the mountains. "The nearest pride of lions lived in the eastern mountains there. They called themselves the Pride of the Eastern Mountain. I told Charles about this two months ago."

"Who's the leader of it?" Lewis asked. "Their leader is King Jawara."

"So you and him know each other?" Mufasa nodded, still looking at the mountains

"Yes, although we haven't been in much contact. I send a message to him last month, he didn't reply."

Lewis scratched his chin "He might be busy in taking care of his pride, since he is the king."

"You might be right, that makes sense." Mufasa said in approval, he looked at the horizon. The sky was turning into an orange shade of color.

"Looks like it's nearly night time. I've gotta rest now, if it's okay?"

"Oh yes, absolutely, your majesty." He stared at the savannah, where Charles and a group of lionesses were coming towards the priderock, a carcass of wildebeest on their back. Charles, with a rifle on his hand waved at him.

"We're back from hunting, we managed to catch a wildebeest."

Charles slinged his rifle to his back "So how's the chat with the king?"

He shrugged "It went well, just a few small questions from him." They went in the cave to join the pridelanders in their meal.

"Have you ever taste wildebeest meat?" Lewis shook his head "Not yet, but my grandfather used to stay in Africa for a long time. When he was still a lot younger though. He told me how he was able to taste Zebra, Antelope, Wildebeest, and Warthog."

"What was he doing in Africa?" Charles took two slices of the wildebeest meat and gave one to Lewis "Thanks. He was part of a team of archaeologists, they've been to Africa for several times."

"How long do they stay?" Charles asked, "Depends, it mostly lasted for two or three months."

Charles placed their meat into the grill and started cooking it "Did they travelled to other places other than Africa?"

"Nope, their destinations were all in the African Continent. Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Gambia, Botswana and Kenya were a few examples of where my grandfather's team went."

"Cool, so they don't have any security escorts? Isn't Rwanda at war?" Noticing that the wildebeest steak are now fully-cooked, he took it off from the grill and one to Lewis.

"Thank you" he continued "Nope, it was before the Rwandan Rebellion Crisis[1] occured. But they still hired a team of P.M.C.s"

"So they were with your grandfather's group to every place they went?"

"Yeah, grandpa found the mercenaries to be efficient fighters. Heard that the leader of the archaeologists gave them a big reward."

"So your granddad isn't the leader of the team?" Lewis shook his head again, "Nope, I don't fully remember the leader's name. But I think it's a Rhodesian named Harry Bowman, or is it Harry Boatwright? I can't seem to remember it, only his first name."

Now finishing their dinner, Lewis went to his duffle bag and took out his sleeping bag. He placed it on a vacant area and retrieved the duffle bag to the spot where he placed the sleeping bag.

He bid Charles and the other lionesses goodnight before taking a sleep.

He felt footsteps coming near him, he opened his eyes and saw a lioness. The lioness noticed he was awake.

"Hey Lewis." Xyrisse said, sitting near him. "Hello Xyrisse." She lied down and didn't say a word, which disturbs Lewis a bit "Is there anything wrong?" _She's just probably resting_

She raised her head and smiled "No, thank you for your concern. Just resting on my favorite spot."

 _Ha, I knew it. I shouldn't be so worried after all, what time is it?_ He looked at his digital watch, **4:27 AM**. He look back at her.

"So... how long have you've been in this pride?"

"1 year, this wasn't the pride where I was born. But it's a lot better than my original pride."

"Why? Is it abusive parents? A tyrannical leader? Or was it attacked?"

She sighed "It's better if you don't know it, yet." Tears started slipping out of her eyes.

Lewis nodded "It's okay, I understand. You don't need to tell it all if you don't want to." He said in a serious manner.

She wiped her tears with her paws before giving a weak smile to him "I'm sorry if I couldn't tell you"

"No, it's ok. Now please go back to sleep, it's still early in the morning." After she finally dozed off, he tried to sleep again as well. But it was no use, so he decides to go out of the den instead.

 _What should I do now? I know now, I should take a walk around the pride lands_

He grab his personal handgun and a binoculars and went out of the priderock, he walked around the waterhole to observe a few nocturnal animals drinking at it.

"Interesting" he muttered, he took a peek through his binoculars. He saw three hyenas scattered in front of a boulder near the waterhole, cornering something, or someone. He took out his T-272 in case, and attached his suppressor on to it. He crawled through the grass slowly as to not let the hyenas notice him.

He fired four warning shots at them, scaring the hyenas away. He approached the boulder and investigate who the hyenas were surrounding. There it was, a small armadillo. He was still scared by Lewis because of his size "Don't worry, I scared the hyenas away." The armadillo wasn't scared anymore after what he just heard "Thank you very much." He squeaked.

"You're welcome." The armadillo immediately spint away back to his home.

He holstered his pistol and continued his walk around the pridelands.

 **2 hours later...**

"Wha...what? Where am I?" Charles looked around him, it was pure darkness. Except for a very bright doorway, he covered his eyes from the intense brightness of the light. The brightness died down a bit where Charles could see clearly. He walked towards the doorway, but he hesitated whether to open it or not. He decides to open it instead.

"Woah" he gasped from the strong wind coming in, the place felt familiar, too familiar. But it was somewhere he didn't want to be, this was the plane Charles and his family ride on the way to their safari in Africa. The passengers were panicking and screaming as their plane had a huge hole, among them were his family.

 _What should I do?! What should I do?!_

He started panicking as well on how to save his family. Before he could think of a solution, he was sucked slowly by the strong pressure of the hole. He tried to grip on a few seats to prevent him from being sucked. He heard his father shouting, "Son, grab my hand!" He stretched his hand for his son to reach, but it was no use. "Charles!" His father shouted at him, as he was being sucked out of the plane. He looked at the plane while falling, it blew up after a few seconds. Pieces of debris scattered everywhere.

"NO!" He woke up, all sweaty and breathing heavily. It was just a nightmare.

After a few minutes of doing nothing but staring at the ceiling, he grab his bag and went outside of the priderock. He was thinking of talking to Lewis, but he was found to be nowhere. Not even at the waterhole or the priderock, he would never go to the outlands since it was dangerous.

 _Wheres is he?_

He scanned around the area looking for a possible silhoutte of Lewis. He then suddenly heard a gunshot, it was definitely him.

He ran towards the forest where the gunfire came from,, he finally found him near the forest. Practicing his carbine at a few tin cans, but where did the cans came from?

"There you are Lewis, I've been searching for you." Lewis lowered his carbine "Sorry, I was just practicing my aim. Wanna join."

Charles gave a nod to him "Sure, I could use a few practice. Where did you get the tin cans?"

"Found them half-buried near the bunker. Okay, now try and hit at those tin cans to see how accurate you are."

He aimed his rifle at the cans, focusing his crosshairs at them.

 _Inhale, exhale_

He took a deep breath before pressing the trigger, sending the bullet to one of the cans.

"Good aim, lad."

He fired again, missing it and hitting the dirt.

"Try again."

He fired once again, this time it managed to hit a can.

"Nice shot."

He took a deep breath again, and fired another shot. It didn't miss either.

"Impressive, you actually have great precision. Say, who taught you on shooting a gun?" Lewis asked.

"My uncle and my father practiced me on a rifle when I was younger. In addition to that, my father enlisted me in a ROTC-type of program created by the OverEye Industries."

"The Youth Self-Defense Program? My brother's in it too."

"Yeah. So where do you and your family live? If its okay to ask." Charles asked. "Me, my younger brother and my sweetheart lives in Southampton, South East, England. And my parents stayed in Salisbury, South West England."

After the conversation and target practice with Lewis, they returned to the priderock. Charles saw Simba running towards Nala, Sarabi, and Sarafina resting under a tree, whispering something to Nala while she's being licked by her mother.

"Come on, I just heard about this great place." he whispered so their mother couldn't hear them.

"Simba, I'm kinda in the middle of a bath."

Sarabi grabbed him by the head "And it's time for yours."

"Mom!" Sarabi held her paws around Simba to prevent him from getting away.

"Mom, you're messing up my mane." Sarabi smiled at him while licking his mane. After finishing his bath, Sarabi released him from her paws. "Okay, okay, I'm clean, can we go now?"

"So where are going? It better not be any place dumb." Simba gave a big smile to Nala "No, it's really cool."

Sarabi looked at her son "So where is this really cool place?"

"Uh... around the waterhole." Charles raised an eyebrow, he was suspecting Simba of telling a lie to Sarabi. He hid behind a tree to hear them better.

"The waterhole?! What's so great about the waterhole?" He whispered to Nala "I'll show you when we get there."

"Oh." She now understood what he meant, she turned towards her mother "Mom, can I go with Simba."

"Hmm, what do you think Sarabi?" Sarafina looked at her.

"Well..." They gave her a wide smile "Please?"

"It's alright with me." what she said slightly surprised Charles.

"YAY!" But their celebration was soon gone, as Sarabi said "As long as Zazu goes with you."

Simba groaned "No, not Zazu." Charles chuckled, _You guys thought you could simply go around on your own? I don't think so._

"Zazu!" The queen called.

"Yes, your highness?" the majordomo asked "Please watch over the two cubs while they're heading to a cool place near the waterhole."

"As you wish, my queen." He flew above Simba and Nala.

Charles looked at Sarabi "Are you sure you're just going to let Zazu alone watch over the cubs?"

"If you want to go, then that's fine to me." Charles slinged his rifle and took two magazines with him and one magazine for his P59 pistol.

"What's with the sudden loading of guns, ey?" Lewis asked.

"Simba and Nala are going to a 'cool' place, and I want to make sure they're gonna come back safe. Wanna come along?" he checked the magazine of his rifle to see if it's fully loaded.

"Sure." He grab his carbine and gave a thumbs up, a sign that he's ready.

"Alright, lets go."

They followed them until they started to hear singing, "These animals sing? Then again, they could even talk to us. And that's crazy enough." Lewis said.

The singing finally died out, they peeked out of the grass to see Zazu under a Rhinoceros. "Get off me." Zazu pleaded, Lewis coudn't stop his laugh at the sight of it. After his laughing ceased, they continued following them to their 'really cool' place.

The cool place was revealed to be the Elephants' graveyard, a place where old elephants went to die alone. "Cool, this is my first time being in an Elephants' graveyard. My grandfather told me about these places before." Lewis whispered. "This si my first time too." Said Charles, who was observing to the two cubs.

Simba and Nala were looking at an elephant's skull, amazed at the sight of it.

"I wonder if its brains are still in there." Nala said.

"There's only one way to know. Come on, let's check it out." They went nearer to the skull.

Suddenly, Zazu came out of nowhere "WRONG! The only checking out you will do will be to check out of here."

"Awww man." Simba was disappointed that Zazu found them.

"We're way beyond the boundaries of the Pridelands."

"Look, Banana Beak is scared." Simba smiled.

"Banana beak, banana beak." Lewis quietly laughed.

"It's Mr. Banana Beak to you, fuzzy. And right now, we're all in real danger." Zazu was afraid now that they're outside of the Pridelands.

Simba laughed, "Danger? HA! I walk on the wild side. I laugh in the face of danger." his laughing was soon accompanied by manic laughter of somebody else.

Charles gasped, the laughing sound very familiar to him. Hyenas.

Three hyenas came out of the skull, "Well, well, well, Banzai. What have we got here?" One of the hyenas, a female, said.

"Hmm...I don't know, do you think Ed?" Ed just simply laughed.

"Eh, just what I was thinking, a trio of trespassers."

"And quite by accident, I assure you. A simple navigational error. We'll-" His tail feathers were stepped by Shenzi's paw. "Wait, wait, wait. I know you, you're Mufasa's stooge." Simba, Nala and Zazu tried to reutrn to the way they origianlly came from but was stopped by Shenzi.

"Wait what's the hurry? We'd love to stick around for dinner."

"Yeah, we could have whatever's lion around." The three hyenas laughed at the pun.

Charles and Lewis were spotted by Zazu, but he shushed him to not let them reveal their presence. He point them towards a direction for them to escape.

 _Glad I bought the suppressor with me_

He pulled the suppressor out of his bag and attached it to his SMLE. Lewis and Charles readied their firearms in case things didn't go well.

The hyenas still continued on their joking "Wait, wait, I got one. Make mine a cub sandwich. Watcha think?"

Ed noticed the departure of their meal, and was pointing towards them. "What Ed? What is it?" He looked where he was pointing.

"Hey did we order this dinner to go?" Shenzi shook her head "No, why?"

"Cause there it goes!" Zazu and the cubs ran towards the other side of the graveyard.

A hyena stepped out of an Elephant skull "Get them!" Waves of hyenas started pouring out of the skull.

Lewis gasped "Ho! That's a LOT of hyenas."

"We need to stop from reaching Zazu and the cubs." He aimed his rifle at the hyenas and started firing on them. He managed to hit three hyenas.

"We need to pick our shots carefully as to not waste ammunition." Lewis fired two hot bolts of pulse at the hyenas, hitting two of them.

A hyena that nearly bit Nala in the tail was shot in the side of the head by Charles, but Simba and Nala didn't notice the humans covering their escape.

Lewis fired four shots of pulse, successfully hitting four hyenas. There were about 10 or more hyenas remaining.

Simba, Nala, Zazu, and the chasing hyenas are now out of their view.

"Quick, we must find them before they could get hurt." They moved the another spot where they finally found them. The hyenas were searching for the cubs in the geyser, when Simba revealed himself. "Hey, why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

"Like you?" Simba's eyes widen "Oops." They tried to ran away but were intercepted by several hyenas, they ran to another side and up to a hill of bones.

Lewis fired three more shots, hitting three more hyenas. Some of the hyenas noticed the humans but were gunned down by both Lewis and Charles. There were about six hyenas left, still in tow behind the cubs.

Shenzi was about to bite Nala but was swiped by Simba's claws. Shenzi was now growling at the cubs. Charles fired another shot, hitting a bone near Shenzi's feet. It caused several bones to tumble down the pile, making Shenzi fall down the hill of bones. The cubs were now hiding under a rib cage, hidden from the hyenas.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty. Where are you?" Banzai was growling, looking around for the cubs. Charles took down one more hyena, leaving only five left.

Simba revealed himself from the rib cage and tried to roar, he only managed to make a small growl.

"Oh no." muttered Lewis, he grabbed his trench club and went down from their spot. "Lewis wait!" Charles followed him suit.

The hyenas laughed at him, "Ha! Was that it? Come on, do it again." Simba tried again, but to Nala, Charles, Lewis, and the hyenas amazement. It was a roar. _That couldn't be him, no way_ , Charles thought, it could be none other than the king himself.

Lewis used this chance to sneak up on one of the unwary hyenas and smacked him with his club, breaking the hyena's skull and sending him flying to the ground. Another hyena lunged at him and managed to pin him down. Lewis used the club to block the hyena from biting his face.

"I'm coming Lewis!" He aimed his rifle at the hyena, but it only gave a click. He needs to reload, he frantically looked for another magazine. But he noticed a huge silhoutte came over the hyenas.

And there he is, King Mufasa gave a huge swipe to the hyenas, knocking them down to the ground. This Charles' first time seeing Mufasa so angry, especially since the hyenas tried to harm the prince. The other hyena that was pinning Lewis stood up and flew away, leaving only Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed the remaining hyenas.

The hyenas began begging him for mercy. "Silence!" Mufasa yelled, which made the hyenas further scared of him.

"Calm down, calm down. We're really sorry."

Mufasa glared at the three "If you ever come near my son again."

Shenzi tried to act bewildered at the fact that this was the king's son, "Oh, this is your son?"

She asked Banzai "Did you know he was his son?" Banzai shook his head, "No no no, I didn't know."

"Ed?" They both asked him, he just simply nodded. This only made Mufasa roared at them.

"Toodles." The three hyenas ran towards the Elephant grave yard and disappeared from the king's sight.

Zazu landed beside the king, who happily looked at Mufasa. Mufasa looked at him, but has the opposite expression. Zazu's smile faded and made him cower down.

"Dad..." Simba walked towards Mufasa.

"You deliberately disobeyed me. You almost put yourself and Nala in danger." Mufasa scowled at his son. "Dad... I'm sorry."

"Let's go back home." Mufasa simply said, he walked off with Zazu flying beside him.

Charles went to Lewis to help him get up, "Need a hand?" he extend his arm to Lewis, he accepted it and dust himself off. "Thanks, now let's head back to the priderock."

"Ouch" It came from Lewis, a bleeding cut on his arm "Where did you get that?!" Charles asked.

"Guess I got that from the hyena while ago, he scratched me. But I didn't know it was that horrible." Charles took a cloth from his bag and wrapped it around his arm.

"We should get you to Rafiki." Lewis waved it off "No need for that, I'll be fine. Trust me."

While walking back to the pridelands through the grasslands, with Charles and Lewis behind them. Mufasa decides to give his son a punishment for his disobedience.

"Zazu!" Mufasa called. The hornbill landed next to him "Yes sire?"

"Take Nala home, I've got to teach my son a lesson."

"Come Nala." Zazu grabbed the Simba's shoulders and whispered to him "Good luck."

Now near to the priderock, Charles wonders how Simba know about the bone yard. He decided to ask Nala first, "Nala, how did you and Simba know about the Elephants' graveyard?"

She shrugged "Simba's the one who told me about it, so I don't really know who told him about that place."

"How about you Zazu, do you know the reason on how Simba know the place?" Zazu shook his head. "Don't know either, but it's definitely someone in the Pridelands." Charles was about to ask Lewis, but no way would he told Simba about it. Today was just his second day here in the Pridelands.

"I'll probably ask Simba and Mufasa later."

Now back at the priderock, the lionesses were resting and having a conversation inside the den. "Hey, is Simba and Nala ok?" , Xyrisse asked. She immediately noticed the wound on Lewis' arm, she gasped and ran towards him, "What happened?"

"It's just a small wound Cyrise, don't worry." He tried to hide his wounded arm. "A _small_ wound? It's a deep cut." She said looking at the bloodied cloth on his arm.

"Nah, not really deep. It's just a small cut, I'll be fine. I'll just get my first-aid kit." He went to his duffle bag and took out a box of first-aid, he pulled out a disinfectant and another cloth. He gestured Charles to come towards him, "Please hold this cloth for a while." He took off the stained cloth and poured a small drop of disinfectant to the cloth that Charles is holding. "Wait before that." He took out a vial and poured a small drop to the wound. "You can now give it to me." Charles hand the wet cloth to his arm and wrapped it around.

"Okay, thanks for the help."

"Where's Mufasa and Simba?" Sarabi asked, looking around the den for her mate and her son.

"They're having a talk, but they'll be back soon."

"We're back." Said Mufasa, with a sad Simba in tow. Sarabi ran towards Simba and nuzzles him, "Oh son, you had no idea worried I am for you. But at least you and Nala are safe." She nuzzles her mate "Are you okay? You look stressed." Mufasa nodded and gave a smile to his mate, "Yes, I'm okay."

Lewis looked at his digital watch, it's only **5** **:36 PM**.

 **Lewis' POV**

It's nearly time for dinner, too bad they didn't stock him with any decent rations for the emergency duffle bag. I suddenly felt nauseous and aching on his head, looks like Xyrisse noticed this and looked at me again "Are you okay Lewis?" I felt weak and my legs started wobbling and trembling, my vision starts to become shaky and blurry. "Lewis? Lewis?" Charles asked me and placed his hand on my forehead. "Get Rafiki!" I can hear Mufasa ordering Zazu to call someone, who's Rafiki? I wondered in my mind before fainting.

I opened my eyes to find myself lying down in the den "Where am I?" I asked to nobody, or so I thought. "You're at the Priderock." a familiar female voice told me, it was Xyrisse, who was watching me intently. "How are you feeling?" she asked, I rubbed my head. The headache and dizziness was gone, that's the good thing. "The nausea and headache's gone now." She smiled "That's great."I looked around the cave I was in, the King and his pride were no where to be found, this must be another part of the priderock. "Where's Charles?" I asked, "He went to help Rafiki to get the ingredients for the second medicine." I frowned upon hearing there's a second one, "There's another one?" She nodded "Yeah, Rafiki says you need one more medicine to properly heal your wound."

"Alright." I simply said "Who's Rafiki anyway?" I asked, "He's our shaman, he makes medicines for the animals here and does rituals for special occasions." I nodded my head slowly, "Oh ok, now I understand." After around three minutes Charles and a mandrill came back with the ingredients for my second medicine, "We're back!" He said, and set down the ingredients "You're awake Lewis. Feeling better." I gave a nod to let him know. "Great! Now Rafiki just needs to make the medicine. I bet you haven't met Rafiki yet, haven't you?"

"Xyrisse told me about him, but I haven't met him in person."

"Well... I want you to meet Rafiki, the shaman of this pride." The mandrill, who was actually Rafiki, came close to me "Ahh... So dis is da new hooman who can fly."

"Nice to meet you." I said, "Likewise, flying man." I chuckled at the name he called me, _flying man..._

"Now let us make dee second medicine for your wound." he said, mixing the ingredients they brought. After finishing mixing it, he placed a few at my forehead and a few as well on my wounded arm.

"There, you should be okay in the next day. If your wound is still in pain tomorrrow, then it'll probably be the next day after tomorrow. You should take a rest and go to sleep." he explained to me. I lied down again, I realized that I was lying down at my sleeping bag. Someone must have moved it here.

Charles went over to where Xyrisse was sitting and placed her hand in her shoulder, "You can now take a rest Xyrisse, I can stand guard for Lewi-"

"No, it's ok. I can watch over Lewis till tomorrow." she shook her head. "Alright then, if you insist." he went out of the cave to take his nap after a long day.

"Is it okay to you...Lewis?" she asked me. "Huh?"

"Is it okay for you to let me stay here. It's okay if you want to be alone here." I gave a nod to her, "Nah, you can stay here." She gave a wide smile and lied down beside me.

"Goodnight Lewis."

"Goodnight Cyrise." After bidding her goodnight, I finally close my eyes to sleep.

* * *

 **CoN Gun Range, Black Forest, Baden-Württemberg, Germany**

 **August 20, 2071**

 **Charles' POV**

Today is our second day of our vacation in _Deutschland_. My father and my uncle decided that we should go to a shooting range to see how I could handle a gun, I'm pretty excited on my first time trying a firearm.

"Come on Charles, _Schnell_." my uncle shouted at me ahead of the trail.

"Okay, coming." I began walking up the path faster, I couldn't be this tired if we travel by foot for more than 50 kilometers.

"Is the shooting range that far?" I asked between my heavy breathing.

"We're here!" One of my paternal cousins, Erhard Hartmann, exclaimed. The shooting range has a few old concrete building, some broken and filled with debris. A flag pole stood in the center, flagless. There were also sandbags and small trenches scattered around the place. The whole area was surrounded by hundreds of tall trees. Birds chirping echoed through the forest, adding it to the beautiful serene view.

"This is where you guys practice shooting?" I asked, uncle nodded "Yes, this was originally one of our favorite places to play and hangout with friends. Until it was closed for a few years, heard a heinous crime[2] happened during that time." He shivered at the thought, then he continued "During our 30s we decided to visit this place again, we found out that a 3 hectares area including this, was now owned by OverEye Industries. Glad that they still managed to preserve this place."

"Alright, Erik! Raise the _Preussens_ flag!" He ordered, Erik Hartmann, another of my cousins, he attached the Prussian flag to the pole and raised it. There it is, the Flag of Prussia gracefully waving in the air.

"Turn up the music!" Uncle ordered again, this time to Erhard. He took out a speaker from his bag and began pressing on the buttons, he looked at my uncle "Pa, the _Preussens Gloria?_ " Uncle gave a nod to him. He nod back, before pressing a button.

 **Playing: Preußens Gloria, Armeemarschsammlung, 240- Johann Gottfried Piefke**

The music was played in an audible volume, but could still be heard in a few miles. The music lasted for 3 minutes. I sat down in a small, old bench to rest from the long, tiresome walk to this place, my father joined me in the seat.

"I must say dad, this is a real nice and peaceful place." Dad happily sighed, "Yep, it's really nice to be back here for a while."

"So what exactly are we going to do here?" Father stood up from the bench "We're here to see how you can handle a rifle." Uncle said, pulling out a Gehewr 98. "This is a Gehewr 89, produced in 1898. This is a genuine model, originally used by the _Deutsches Heer_ of the German Empire. It's great to know that the OE Industries managed to preserve these 19th Century rifles." He placed the rifle in a nearby crate and walked towards the field, looking for something. "I wonder if the shooting targets are still here."

Father suddenly threw the rifle at me, luckily I managed to catch it. "Glad you're catching skills are still good."

"Ah.. Here it is." Uncle plant the shooting targets on the ground. "Charles, see those targets?" I nodded. "Shoot them." He simply said.

I opened the bolt and check the breach to see if there's a round in it, seeing there's no bullet in it, I pushed the bolt back "Here's the clip." my uncle said, giving me a stripper/charger clip for bolt-action rifles. I opened the bolt again and slipped the clip, chambering the bolt of the rifle.

"Good, now that you checked your rifle before firing. You must adjust your position to a steady one. The standing position is the hardest one in my opinion, but I would like to see if you can do with it."

"I see you used the Tactical Stance, okay now that you have a steady position. _Losschießen!_ " Uncle said.

I pressed the trigger, the gunfire echoed through the forest. I looked closely to observe where I hit, the bullet hit near the center of the target.

"Nice shot Charles!" Erik shouted. "Not bad, you have a pretty good aim for your first time. Try another shot." my uncle said while cleaning another G-98.

I chambered the round, sliding the bolt forward and rotate the bolt handle back down. I squeezed the trigger, the gunshot was pretty loud without ear protection. Now it managed to hit the center.

My father's eyes widened and a wide smile on his face. "Excellent shot right there son! You're a natural." I returned the smile "Thanks dad."

After a few more minutes of target practice with my father, uncle and cousins. My father and uncle planned on our next destination.

"Aha! We know where we shall head next!" Uncle exclaimed, "Where?" asked Erik.

"I'll give you a hint, the place was one of Count Otto von Bismarck's favorite places in the Black Forest."

* * *

 **Okay...I'm starting to regret not showing the interaction between Charles and the lions, even his backstory can sometimes be longer than the actual fanfic. I think I'll focus on the... "character development" between the human and lions. And also, I've been still thinking whether to include Charles' background story or not. What do you think guys? Please give your opinions if I should still add them, please.**

* * *

 **Information:**

 **[1] The Rwandan Rebellion Crisis (2029-2032) is an insurgent uprising the in the nation of Rwanda. Leaded by ex-Rwandan military general Abasi Obasanjo, he gathered several sodiers and civilians that supported him and created the New Rwandan People's Front(N.W.P.F.) in his goal to overthrow the government and establish a communist totalitarian government ruled by himself. The NWPF established their first outpost in Ruhengeri and started engaging police and military personnel that were loyal to the government. The UIA, hearing that the rebel group are communtists, were interested in aiding the current government in fighting the rebels. They sent four regiments, the 11th East African Volunteers Regiment, the 56th Ugandan Regiment, and the 24th Sudanese Infantry-Support Regiment to assist the government troops. The UNAF was requested by the president to help him in fighting against the NWPF, so they sent four divisions and two armored brigades to Rwanda as assistance to the government. Ex-general Abasi Obasanjo was assassinated by UIA special forces in his hideout in Cyangugu on April 23, 2032, ending the rebellion.**

 **Aftermath of the Rwandan Rebellion Crisis:**

 **More than 40,000 civilians were killed**

 **More than 80,000 NWPF rebels killed by government, UIA, and UNAF troops.**

 **8,562 UIA soldiers dead/missing**

 **6,327 UIA soldiers injured**

 **7,761 UNAF soldiers dead/missing**

 **10,196 UNAF soldiers injured**

 **More than 9,000 Rwandan Defence Forces soldiers killed/missing**

 **More than 12,000 Rwandan Defence Forces injured**

 **Vehicle losses:**

 **NWPF:**

 **IFVs(Technicals, BMPs, and Ratel IFVs)-2,000+**

 **MBTs(T-64s, T-34s, and T-84s)-400+**

 **APCs/Troop Transports(Trucks, M113s, BTR-80s, and BTR-90s)-800+**

 **Anti-Aircraft(SAM batteries, AA Batteries, ZSU-23-4 Shilkas, and ZSU-57-2s)-31**

 **Jet Fighters(MiG-21s)-6**

 **Transport Helicopters(Mil Mi-24s)-35**

 **Attack Helicopters(Mil Mi-28s)-22**

 **Artillery(Howitzers and mortars)-300+**

 **Rwandan Defence Forces:**

 **IFVs(BMP-3s, Ratel IFV, and M2 Bradleys)- 400+**

 **MBTs(T-90s)-200+**

 **APCs/Troop Transports(Trucks, and BTR-90s)-250+**

 **Anti-Aircraft(AA Batteries, and 2K22 Tunguska M1s)-23**

 **Jet Fighters(SU-27)-4**

 **Transport Helicopters(CH-47 Chinooks and UH-1Y Venoms)-50+**

 **Attack Helicopters(Kamov KA-50s)-12**

 **Artillery(Howitzers and mortars)-100+**

 **UIAF:**

 **IFVs(Stridsfordon/Strf 20s, Dardo IFVs, and Freccia 8x8 wheeled IFVs)- 52**

 **MBTs(T-72s, C1 Arietes, Strv 2/21, T-14 Armatas, and Leopard 2A6s)- 97**

 **APCs/Troop Transports(Jeeps, Trucks, Patria Pasi, BTR-90s, and BPB-25s)**

 **Anti-Aircraft(SAM batteries, Tunguska M1s, FlakPanzer Gepard, and ZSU-23-4 Shilkas)- 14**

 **Jet Fighters(JAS-39 Gripen, Eurofighter Typhoon, and MiG-46)-4**

 **Transport Helicopters(UH-60 Black Hawk, CH-47 Chinook, SH-60 Seahawk and V-22 Osprey)-7**

 **Attack Helicopters(LL-27 VTOL, AH-64 Apache, and Mi-28)-3**

 **Artillery(ARCHER artillery system, CAESAR II howitzers, AS-90s, howitzers, and mortars)-2**

 **UNAF:**

 **IFVs(Puma IFV, Kurganets-25, FV-650 Warrior, and M2 Bradley II)-28**

 **MBTs(Leopard 2A6s, T-90s, T-14 Armatas, Challenger 2s, Type 10s, and M1A2 Abrams)-30**

 **APCs/Troop Transports(Trucks, Jeeps, MRAPs, Stryker TC-M1 APC, and GTK Boxers)-45**

 **Anti-Aircraft(SAM mobile missiles systems, FlakPanzer Gepard, and Tunguska M2s)-9**

 **Jet Fighters(A-10 Thunderbolt II, Eurofighter Typhoons, and SU-31s)-17**

 **Transport Helicopters(V-22 Ospreys, and UH-60 Blackhawks)-5**

 **Attack Helicopters(Mi-28, Eurocopter Tiger, and ACA-23 Ravens)-10**

 **Artillery(PzH-2000s, TOS-1, BM-21 Grad, M109A6 Paladins, howitzers, and mortars)-5**

 **NOTE: The reason why the UIA and UNAF used old vehicles is to not let these get captured by rebels.**

 **[2] October 13, 2041, 15 bodies of men who were part of a communist political party in Germany were found in the Black Forest dumped in a small pit. It it still unknown who did it. Until in October 31, 2068, UIA General Hans Nilsson and UIA Ambassador to Germany Piero Colombo admitted to the media press that the UIA were the ones responsible for the killings, including the 2038 Mosque bombing in Islamabad, Pakistan which killed 45 people and injured 78 people, the 2062 Essen shooting where two unknown men killed 21 members of a communist party meeting and injuring another 37.**

 **Additional Information I forgot to add in the previous chapter:**

 **1\. November 20, 2070-Originally used by the UIA Air Corps, pilots were all issued with Emergency Survival Bags in their planes. Other countries' air forces started equipping their pilots with these kind of emergency bags too a few years later.**

 **2\. The variant given to the pilots was the T-272/50, which is modified to fit a 50 caliber round. The standard variant uses a .357 round.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Good day! I hope you guys have finally decided on whether I should include Charles' backstory or no. (I can't believe I could actually review my own work.)**

 **Lewis' POV**

I woke up to find Xyrisse to be nowhere, she must've woke up earlier before me. I tried standing up, while doing so, I could feel a slight pain while trying move my wounded arm. "Ouchouchouch."

 **Third Person View**

Charles was sitting in the den, watching a group of cubs play. Since Simba's grounded after what just happened yesterday, he and a few of his friends just play in the den instead. Simba and the cubs were playing tag, running around the den to catch each other. Charles smiled at the sight of the cubs playing, he remembered the days when he used to have fun with his siblings and friends. But his smile was replaced by a frown when he remembered the memories of his family. The question came back to him: _Did they survived the crash?_

"Come and catch me Simba!" shouted Nala, Simba lunged at her and pinned her to the ground.

"Ha! Got you!" he said, but he was soon tipped over by Nala, now he was the one pinned down "Pinned ya!" she ran towards to the other side of the den with Chumvi and Kula, Tama was hiding behind a small boulder, when she felt something behind her. She looked behind her and saw Tojo hiding as well. He gave her a smile "Hey... You're hiding here to-"

"This is not hide and seek go find somewhere else." She said, upset that he was hiding as well. "I'ts like you're not hiding." A scowl on his face "Fine." she went out of her hiding spot only to be tagged by Simba "Tag! You're it!" he ran off laughing. The cubs played for another ten minutes before the lionesses came back from hunting.

The hunting group returned with a zebra for the pride to eat. After finishing his meal, he took a slice of zebra meat and cooked it for Lewis. He heard a fast ouch from the cave where Lewis is resting, he entered the cave to see Lewis trying to stand up. "You should have called for help." Charles said, assisting Lewis in standing up. "Thanks, I don't wanna disturb you guys."

"I just finished breakfast, the other lions haven't finished yet. I brought you steak, Zebra steak." he said, handing the steak to Lewis' uninjured arm. "Thank you, but I think I don't wanna intrude the others while they're still eating. So I'll just eat here." Lewis said, sitting down on the hard, stone floor of the cave. "I'll be back." Charles walked out of the cave.

After finishing his steak, Lewis stood up and walked out of the cave. He looked around the den, there were only a few cubs playing while Simba and Nala were talking to Sarabi and Mufasa.

"Please dad, mom, can I go play outside. I'll have someone accompany me."

"Hmm." Sarabi was thinking whether she should allow him. "What do you think?" she asked Mufasa. He was still not happy about how Simba disobeyed him and went to the elephants' graveyard with Nala. But he knew his son already learned his lesson after the punishment he gave him. "Alright, but you will need an adult to accompany you." A wide smile were on the two cubs' face "Thanks mom and dad!" He said before hugging his father and mother. Sarabi nuzzled his son "Be careful out there, I think we should have Charles follow you." She turned towards her mate and nuzzle him "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to hunt with the others now. Take care."

"Remember what your mother says, be careful out there. And in case there's any hyenas or dangerous predators out there, please alert Charles of any." He said before walking out of the den to continue his morning rounds.

Charles was just sitting in the corner of the den with Imani, whose leg is still injured. He went over to them and sat beside them. "Hello Charles, hey Imani. How's your leg?" she gave a small to him, "It's getting better, thank you for your concern."

"Hey Charles, dad says you'll accompany us on playing outside. Please?" He gave a big grin to Charles just to convince him. "Alright, I'll go with you guys." The cubs cheered around "Yay!" And then they ran out of the den. "Wanna come Lewis?" he checked the magazine of his handgun before responding "Sure." Charles looked at Imani "How about you Imani, would you like to join us?" She shook her head, "No thanks, I'll just watch the other cubs here. And I'll need to rest my leg."

"Alrighty then." The two followed the cubs into a small mud pit where they played around. After playing in the mud, now that they're all dirty with mud. "Great, we're all smudged in mud. Our parents are going to get mad at us." complained Tama, this made Simba think on how to clean themselves.

He saw a herd of elephants walking towards a pond, this gave him an idea. "Aha! I know now, let's get the elephants to wash us." suggested Simba, and so they went to to them.

Simba was the one approached the elephants first, "Hello, can you please help us clean off the mud in our fur?" asked Simba as polite as he can, hoping not to make the elephants angry.

One of the elephants came to them and smiled "Sure." the elephant went to the pond and sucked some water, he returned to the cubs and washed them with the water from his trunk. "Thank you!" After cleaning themselves of the mud, the cubs decide on what to do next. Meanwhile, not far from them were Charles and Lewis watching them.

"How about we play hide and seek?" Chumvi proposed, "That's a great idea!" Kula said. "Alright, I'm it." said Tojo enthusiastically.

"Wanna join Charles?Please..." Simba asked, while giving the 'big, puppy eyes' look to him. "Ummm...sure. How about you Lewis?" Lewis shook his head "You go ahead, I'm just gonna stay here and relax for a while." He said while sitting below a tree.

"I'm gonna start counting." Tojo covered his eyes while facing a tree, while Charles and the other cubs find a place to hide.

Simba was hiding inside a log, Nala hid under a small patch of flowers, Charles covered himself with grass, and the other cubs went to find other places to hide.

"5, 4, 3, 2 ,1, ready or not here I come!" Tojo turned around to search for them. He looked under a small log, nobody's here. He looked behind a tree, nobody either. What he didn't know is that he is just several inches away from Charles, hiding under a cover of grass.

"Where are they..." He stepped under the patch of grass Charles is hiding under, "Odd, the grass here feels different." He took a closer look at it, "It's like somebody placed it here."

Charles struggled with trying to stay still, cause if he make a slight movement, it could probably alert Tojo of his presence.

He suddenly felt something crawling around his stomach, he looked down to see a small tarantula crawling in his abdomen. He tried to resist himself from screaming "Shoo, shoo, go away."

The hairy tarantula crawled upwards, coming closer to his chest, until it reached his neck. _I can't take this anymore_

Tojo was about to look somewhere else, when somebody jumped out from the cover of grass. Charles jumped around to remove the tarantula clinging in his clothes. "Get off get off get off get off!" He swat the spider off his shirt, it landed on the grass and crawled away.

He sighed and took a deep breath "Finally, I hate spiders." However, removing the spider results in him leaving his hiding spot.

"HA! Found you Charles!" he said triumphantly, "Let's find the others." Good thing Charles knew where the others were hiding. After finding Charles, they managed to find Nala hiding in a field of flowers. Then they found Chumvi hiding on the branches of a tree. They found Simba inside a log of wood. They found Kula in a cluster of elephant grass, and lastly, Tama was hiding behind a napping elephant.

After the first game of hide and seek was over, they decide to play another round of it. "Since Charles is the first one that got caught, he'll be It."

Charles turned around, closed his eyes and began a 20-second countdown.

After the cubs finally chose their hiding spot, it was only a few seconds left "six, five, four, three, two one. Ready or not, here I come!" He shouted while facing around to search for the cubs.

"Where are you lil' cubs?" He checked the log, nothing but bugs. He noticed a tail dangling in the tree, a lion cub's tail. He tugged the cub's tail, revealing it to be Chumvi's.

"Gotcha!" Chumvi got down the tree after being the first one caught, "Aww men..." After a few minutes of searching, they found Tama hiding in a small pit covered by a stone. "Found ya!" Tama groaned at being easily found.

Charles heard voices nearby, he looked further and found it coming from a dead tree.

"Shhh...Don't make noises. They might hear us."

"You're the one who's making noi-"

"Shush...Wait...I think someone's out there." muttered Nala, and her guess was correct. Two sets of eyes were peeking in the trunk they're hiding in.

"I think they found us." Kula whispered. "You are correct." said the one peeking through the tree.

"It's definitely Charles." Two hands started reaching into the tree, trying to grab the two cubs.

"I know you guys are in there, Kula and Nala." Kula grumbled, "I told you this is a bad hiding spot." Nala complained while climbing out of the dead tree. "Aww come on, it wasn't that bad if we weren't so noisy." Kula insisted.

"Looks like the only ones left are Tojo and Simba." Chumvi said, looking through a bush. "No one's here."

 _I can imagine Dad saying "You're now 18 and you're still playing hide n'_ seek!?" Charles thought in his mind. But then again, it's pretty fun being able to play kid's games for a long time.

"HA! I found Tojo!" shouted Tama, pointing towards a small river. The shape of a lion cub can be seen clearly in the water.

All of a sudden, Tama screamed in surprise as she was dragged into the water by Tojo. Tojo jumped out of the river, laughing,and shook the water out of his fur. Tama surfaced out of the river, breathily heavily while struggling to swim on the water. She got up from the river and shook her fur.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! Your reaction was priceless." Tojo said amusingly, his laughing was cut down by Tama shoving him.

"Nice going dumbhead, I could drown there. And now I got wet again. Why did you drag me in the water anyway?!" She gave a scowl to him, Tojo laughed nervously "It's not like you don't know how to swim, and you're not really that soggy anymore." she scoffed at his excuse "I think I'll push you to the river myself, so you would know how it feels." He smiled "Hehe, sorry Tama."

Charles stopped them before this could escalate further than an argument "Woah woah woah...Quit the quarreling. But I must say Tojo, I'm amazed at how you could stay in the water for that long."

Tojo smirked, "It was nothing much, I just took a deep breath and stayed underwater for a minute."

"Looks like Simba's the only one left." said Chumvi.

Minutes of searching Simba, and they still couldn't find him.

NOTE: (I can't believe 2 and a half of this chapter is about one freakin' game of hide and seek, to think about it is kinda ridiculous in my opinion.)

 **Simba's POV**

"Hehehe, its been ten minutes and they still haven't find me yet." I said, watching from afar behind a thick field of grass. I suddenly felt movement behind me, A tall shadow behind resembling a human. I thought it was Lewis, when I looked back, I was wrong. A stranger dressed in a bright tan-colored clothes, as what humans called their 'fur', stood in front of me. The man has a net on his hands, as if his trying to catch something.

"Hey little kitty." was what he said before throwing the net at me. I was scared and confused at the same time, who is this man. I decided to call for help, "Help! Help! Help me! Help me Charles!"

"Where is he? He sure is good at hid-" Charles was interrupted by someone calling for him. "Help! Help! Help me Charles!"

Charles' eyes widened as he realised Simba is in danger, "Oh no, Simba!" He ran towards the direction where he heard Simba, a field of tall grass. Lewis heard it as well, he saw Charles running towards a thick field of elephant grass. Lewis grabbed his carbine and went to follow Charles, with the cubs in tow.

"What's happening Lewis?" asked a confused Kula. "Simba's in danger!" he said, Nala gasped in shock. "We need to help him quickly."

"Simba!" Charles shouted, he was thinking of the cause of him yelling for help. Is it hyenas? Is it some other hungry predators? he hoped not. He was now in the middle of a clearing, he saw Simba being covered by a net. What surprised him was a...human struggling to take Simba.

"Quit struggling, ye squirt." the man said, with a thick australian accent. The man was wearing a tan safari jacket with a shirt underneath, a boonie hat as his headwear, and a rifle slinged on his shoulder. A jeep was parked several distance behind him.

"Faster, faster! Someone's calling for help." Another guy in a tan officer's cap in the car shouted. The man holding the lion cub noticed Charles, now aware of his presence. "Uhhhh...hello." he said, staring at Charles while grabbing Simba and standing up. "See ya." he quickly said before turning around and started running towards the jeep.

"Hey!" Charles said, chasing the man who took the prince. "Stop! Stop!" He took his rifle and aimed at the man., trying to at least warn him to stop. "I said stop!" he shouted again.

The man saw Charles armed with a rifle, making him run faster rather than slowing him down. "He's got a gun! Faster Benett!" the driver yelled, now starting up the engines of the jeep. He jumped in the back and placed the cub down. The jeep began driving away to the horizon, leaving dust and tire tracks behind.

"Simba! Simba!" he shouted between his heavy breath, the running was now exhausting. "Simba!" he shouted one last time before he finally collapsed.

"Charles wait up! " yelled Lewis, he saw Charles lying down on the ground. "Charles!" He kneeled down and shook his shoulder, "Charles, Charles, stand up. We need to alert the pride about this?"

He suddenly stood up, which startled Lewis for a second. "Simba's kidnapped by poachers, we're screwed! Mufasa's going to kill us!" He abruptly yelled, making the cubs cover their ears.

"Shhh, no need to panic Charles, we'll just explain this carefully to the king and queen." Charles took a deep breath before facing him. "But I'm going to be the one who'll explain." He calmly said, "Let's go."

On the way back to the priderock, Nala decided to ask Charles a question "Charles, will Simba be okay?"

"I don't know honestly, who knows what their intentions are." _What could be their intentions with Simba?_

* * *

At the priderock, the king Mufasa and his mate were resting outside of the den. They saw Charles and the group coming towards them.

The king met them with a smile, but he noticed that everyone but Simba was here. His smile faded "Where's Simba?" He saw Charles' expression, and it wasn't a pleasant one.

Charles took a deep breath before speaking _"Mein König..._ you're son is kidnapped by other humans." Mufasa's eyes widened in shock"What?!"

"But we're going to get him back." assured Charles, "How?" asked Sarabi, who was shocked and worried as well. "We managed to find tracks on where they went, we will follow it to wherever their destination is. "

"So what now?" asked Lewis, this made Charles think. How are they going to get there? "I think we should plan first, prepare our things for the journey."

"Alright, I'll get my duffel bag." He said walking into the den, while Charles went back to the bunker.

At the bunker, Charles took two clips for his rifle and one clip for the pistol. In case the encounter with the poachers didn't go well. He prepared four bottles of water for their trip.

He went out and took a few edible fruits he found hanging in the trees nearby and placed it inside his bagpack. He saw these kind of fruits from Rafiki that were able to consume safely.

Now that everything is ready, he went back to the pridelands to see if Lewis is finished on preparing his things.

* * *

He saw Lewis up in the priderock, talking with Simba's parents. "Please return our son safely." pleaded Sarabi. "Do not worry, me and Charles will find your son and retrieve him from his captors."

"May the Great Kings of the past guide you in your voyage." the king said, Lewis nodded in response, "Thank you. You ready Charles?" he turned around and asked him.

Charles gave a thumbs up, "Yep, I'm ready. How about you?"

"Likewise." Lewis said, walking down the pride rock to meet with Charles.

"Honestly, I'm surprised they didn't mauled me to death when I announced about the kidnapping of Simba." Lewis chucked, "Me too, well at least not too angry as killing you. But I still expected them to be angry that we didn't watch over Simba carefully."

* * *

A lone dark-maned lion watched the two humans as they depart on their way to rescue the prince.

 _Just great, just when I thought that little furball's gone. Now the humans are going to find him, how are they going to rescue him anyway?_ He thought as he went back to his personal cave.

 _After those incompetent hyenas failed to kill Simba, I'll need to have a word with them. Sill glad that some humans took Mufasa's little maggot...Wait a minute, since the two humans are gone, I have a chance to try and get rid of my older brother and claim the throne as mine. But I need to plan correctly and well._

* * *

While they were walking away from the priderock, they heard someone shouting Lewis' name. "Lewis, wait!" He turned around to see who is it, it was Xyrisse. "Wait!" They slowed down to let her catch up. "Hey Cyrise, what's the matter?" Lewis asked.

"I just wanna say goodbye to you two. You sure you don't need escorts to accompany you?" asked Xyrisse, a tone of concern in her voice.

"Oh don't worry too much Xyrisse, we can take care of ourselves just fine. Besides, I don't want to possibly lose more members of the pride in this trip."

"Okay, fine. But please promise to be careful on your trip." He pat her shoulder and assured her that they'll be safe on their journey.

After exchanging their farewells, the two humans continued their way to follow the tire tracks. After 5 hours of continous walking, they decided to stop under a tree to rest for the night.

* * *

"Guard this place while I gather some wood for the fire." He said, placing the duffel bag down and went around to collect some wood.

"Roger." Charles replied while sitting down and setting his backpack down. After Lewis finished gathering enough amount of wood, he returned back to their resting spot.

"Now that we have wood for fire, I think I should hunt for our dinner tonight." Charles suggested. "Alright then, I'm going to guard the camp this time." Lewis readied his carbine.

After a few minutes of looking for prey, he finally found a warthog eating grass in an open field. Dragging the carcass was now heavier since he did it by himself. He cut a decent slice for him and Lewis and cooked it by the fire. After finishing their food, they decided to call it a night and went to sleep.

After 3 days of intense walking through the African wildlands, they finally arrived at a small hill overlooking a military complex where the tire tracks ended.

"Looks like we've arrived to our destination."

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I will try to update more as much as I can this summer. Meanwhile please indulge on this video as a time killer while I'm still working on the next chapter: watch?v=6NfBvmiyu_o I don't own this video! The video belongs to their respective owners.**

 **Additional information I forgot to put on the last chapters:**

 **No-kill(or known as Negative kill in the CoN) is a term used by the UIA which means that the pilot is alive while the plane's shot down or damaged.**


	11. Chapter 11: Royal Rescue Operation

**Hello! I hope you guys have any idea on who are siblings between Tojo, Chumvi, Kula and Tama. I'll probably edit a few chapters to correct it.**

 **Darth Cody: Ummm...The internet?**

 **9 hours ago...**

 **UIA Bio-Warfare Research Facility and Outpost, Kenya, December 17, 2072**

* * *

In the Eastern sector of Kenyan Savannah, lays an UIA facility. Purposed for researching weapons for biological warfare. An outpost merged to it guards the facility with pillboxes, tanks, IFVs, and air defences, the whole facility is surrounded by a wall that provides additional protection from any invaders.

A Jeep staff car drove towards the gate of the facility, the jeep halted at the M.P. Officers guarding the gate.

"Hey wake up Benett, we're here." said the driver, slapping him in the shoulder. "Okay okay, I'm up." He said while yawning after his nap. "Prepare the cards." The driver rolled down the window to the approaching officer.

"May I have your Identification cards sir? Oh wait...you guys again." The officer said, "Yep, it's us again. Miss us?" The driver smirked.

He shrugged, "Eh, better than the French or the Brits that's for sure." The driver hand him the IDs, the officer read it for a while before handing it back to him "Alright, you're clear to enter. Aksel, raise the gates!" The officer shouted to another officer in the guard shed.

Now entering the gate, the jeep passed through tents, pillboxes, machine gun nests, and air defence installations before stopping at the main research facility.

Three men stood at the courtyard of the building, two of them were standard infantrymen while the other's a high-ranked officer.

"Glad he ordered us to catch it alive." Benett said while unbuckling his seat belt. "And I thought you don't care much about animals?" the driver asked, he shook his head, "Not really Arno, besides it's only a cub. I don't wanna shoot something so innocent." the driver, Arnold, chuckled "That cub, is going to become a killing machine in the future. Trust me, I heard what those guys are going to do with it, like the rest of the lions."

Benett raised an eyebrow, "They're going to be lab rats, aren't they?" He gave a nod while stepping out of the jeep. "But hey at least we're finally gonna have some big cash, we haven't got a payment for two months. Now get the lion cub from the back while I talk to the captain." The driver said to him before walking towards the three men waiting for them.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Operators Felix Benett and Arno de Witte, welcome back." the captain said.

"It's actually Arnold, Arno's just my nickname." He corrected the captain, "Right... I believe you got what we've been wanting to have." Arnold nodded, he motioned Benett to bring the cage with the lion cub in it.

Benett showed the lion cub to the captain "So this is the cub, excellent. You two have done a wonderful job." The captain said, giving the cage to one of the infantrymen.

"And our reward?" Arnold asked the captain before he could turn around. "Ahhh...Yes, I almost forgot." He said, revealing the briefcase to them. "Here's you're payment."

Felix took the briefcase ,opened it and started counting the money "700, 800, 900, 1,000 Pounds. Wait I thought you guys promised us 3,000 Pounds?" asked Felix.

"Oh too bad, the Central Command **[1]** decides to move the 2,000 Pounds to our more important matters that need additional funds." the captain said.

"That ain't part of the contract." Felix said.

"Sorry, that's what we only got. Accept it or give it back." The captain said, starting to lose his patience with the two.

"Fine, let's go Felix." Arnold said, stomping back to the jeep with Felix behind.

"Ta ta~." The captain said mockingly while waving goodbye to them.

* * *

 **Kisumu, Kenya**

In the Kenyan port city of Kisumu, the third largest city of the country. The streets were filled with civilians going off to their daily activites. Cars, trucks, taxis, and buses crowded the whole roads, making a huge traffic jam for the motorists and commuters. Among them were a Jeep staff car, driven by two PMC operators.

"I don't remember this road having a traffic while ago." Arnold complained. "Because while ago ain't the present." Felix responded.

"Why the bitter mood?" asked Arnold in a worried tone. "It's those bloody fascist! They promised us 3,000 pounds, Three Thousand. This is one of the biggest yet, the biggest sum being from that archaeologist team we followed to several African countries. You remember that one?" Arnold nodded.

The traffic started moving and moving, until they finally found the source of traffic. Police barriers and barricade tapes surrounded a building, with police vans and police mobiles parked in front of it. Police and SWAT officers were of course, present on the scene. But what got the attention of the mercenaries were the men in grey tactical gear, gas masks on their faces and wearing WW2-era German helmets.

"Those men in grey looked different than the SWAT, but I can't seem to recall." Felix said, looking out of the window.

"Maybe they're some african special forces?" Arnold wondered.

Felix shook his head "Nah, they look way more organized than the special forces here. Looks European if you ask me." He took a closer look at them, he now remembered them. They have armbands and insignia, reading: _Deutsche SturmTruppen._

"I knew it! They're the German Stormtroopers." Arnold looked out of the window as well. "THE German _SturmTruppen?_ "

"Yeah, you heard of them before." asked Felix, Arnold nodded in response "Yeah, they were one of the special forces who assassinated the top leaders of the ILA and NOL, right?"

"Correct, I got an idea. Park over that vacant spot." He said, pointing over to a parking spot near the scene. "Wait here." Felix said while steeping out of the jeep. He walked over to one of the Stormtroopers, who noticed him walking towards them. One of them spoke "Sorry sir, this place is restricted area for civilians and tourists."

"You must be mistaken." He said while pulling his ID, and showing it to them "OverEye PMCs."

"So what's your business here?" asked the Stormtrooper with a red cross armband on his right arm, showing him to be the medic of the team.

"We have some vital information about the UIA." He said, showing to them a map. "You'll have to talk to our sergeant first." The medic said, leading him to their squad leader.

Meanwhile, Arnold was just sitting in the drivers seat, staring at the endless flow of cars passing by the road. "It's starting to get boring, time for some good ol' _Nederlands_ songs." He said while tuning in the radio.

* * *

He woke up to a knock on the window, he unlocked the door and let his colleague in. "I'm back, let's go now." said Felix getting back to his seat. "Where?" asked Arnold "Back to HQ." A happy Felix made him wonder what's the reason behind his happiness. "Why so happy now Bennett?" his smile turned into a villainous grin, "Those UIA wankers are going to get struck back by karma."

"Looks like we've arrived at our destination." Lewis said while peeking through his binoculars. "The heck..."

The complex was completely in ruins, possibly from an attack. Disabled tanks and vehicles lay around the outpost, pillboxes, barracks, and fortifications were completely demolished, possibly by HESH ammunition, tents and watchtowers were burned to the ground.

"Let's get a closer look." said Charles while running down the hill. "Right behind you."

They went inside the outpost through the main gate, passing by a destroyed guard shed. "Looks like this place's attacked just recently, maybe we can find some supplies here." They stumbled upon a large gravesite. "Somebody must've dug it here, guess the enemy did or somebody else." Lewis spoke, "You think someone's still here?" asked Charles, the question made him more cautious. "Now that you've said it, there might be someone here. Or they probably left already. We need to find Simba fast."

Charles looked towards the main facility of the complex, one of the only remaining buildings that's not destroyed "That might be the place where they kept him." He said pointing toward it. A flag of the UIA stood in front of the building.

"Let's check it out." They went inside the building, the first room they entered resembles a front desk, except there's a makeshift machine gun nest covered with sandbags.

"Look, a machine gun." Lewis said, pointing towards the mg laying on the pile of sandbags. Charles went to the sandbags and took a closer look at it, "A PK light machine gun, too bad it's broken." Said Charles while showing the broken barrel of the PKM to Lewis. "Eh...Too bad. Let's move ahead and see what this facility has."

They stumbled upon a hallway with rooms on both sides, all of them offices. "You think there's any important documents here?" asked Charles, Lewis looked at the first office. "Everything's burned, even the officer equipment is burned." They checked the remaining ones, all burned down with barely anything left.

They moved to the next area, a sign indicating it to be a mess hall for the soldiers. The mess hall's chairs and tables were bored with bullet marks and some flipped over, like a bloody gunfight happened here. There was a few blood marks in the floor and a few in the wall, Lewis inspected a few and noticed some were fresh. "Some of them are still recent."

They moved to the next area, which is a long hallway. A sign hanging on the wall, displaying: BioWarfare Lab. The hallway led them to a transparent room, beyond it a huge science lab. The transparent room have a disabled defense turret and a tall scanners on both sides conjoining each other. They stepped in it, unaware that they triggered a motion sensor. A loud beep went off in the room, then a speaker spoke in a robotic voice.

 ***Please remain on the scanners for contamination scanning***

 ***Scanning Complete** *

 ***You may now enter** *

A loud hiss came out of the scanners before the doors automatically opened, leading into the lab. They went into the lab, scattered science equipment and apparatus were everywhere in the laboratory. Papers and folders were torn to pieces and littered the floor and desks.

"These documents are probably important." Lewis squat down and picked up a folder holding some documents.

 _Delivery Reports: Year 2072_

 _4 homosapiens specimens arrived on February 8, 2072_

 _6 Multiphoton excitation microscopes arrived on February 27, 2072_

 _1 unit of HSWS turret ordered from BulletStorm Weapons Corp. on March 12, 2072 and arrived on March 23, 2072_

 _8 tanks of fire extinguishers requested from Central Command on April 10, 2072 and arrived on April 20, 2072_

 _6 units of desktop computers ordered from Central Command on May 9, 2072 and arrived on May 21, 2072_

 _4 units of CCTV cameras requested from Central Command on June 28, 2072 and arrived on July 19, 2072_

He flipped the page and skimmed through the second page, "Just a bunch of deliveries, but I do find this 4 specimens which were humans. Gotta find any reports of missing people if I ever get back to HQ." he said whie standing up and placing the folder on a desk. "How about these computers?" he asked, Charles tried to activate the computers. He looked under the desks to see if it's plugged in, he shook his head. "Tried plugging it, looks like it's sabotaged or something. Won't work."

"Let's continue to the other areas." Lewis said pointing towards two doorways. "Which one first?" asked Charles. The left door way has a sign above of it, **Armory** written on it. This made Lewis eyes' widen, "Let's check the armoury first." They approached the entrance, but before they enter it, Lewis motioned them to stop. "Let's check if there's anyone or anything in there, waiting for us." He peeked through the doorway and saw nobody or anything in there. "Looks safe, I'll go first." He said, going into the armory.

The armory was a huge room protected by a metal gate and fence, another disabled turret on the corner of the armory. Lewis' and Charles' eyes widened again at the enormous amounts of guns, whole shelves, cabinets and storage of them.

 _Looks clear and abandoned_

He moved nearer ot the gate and took a closer look to see what type of locking system it has, a keypad and a key hole. He tried to see if it was unlocked, he yanked it to see if the gate could move. But the sound of a gun cocking made his thought of this place being abandoned wrong, he turned his head around to see who it is. A man stepped out of a dark doorway, wearing a balaclava and tactical gear **[5]**.

"Stay where you're right at, don't try to move or do anything." The man said, holding an Ak-25 **[6]** assault rifle on his hands. "What's your business here?" asked the soldier. "We just found this pla-"

 ***BANG* *BANG***

Several gunshots made them crouch them, this gives Lewis a chance to take cover behind a crate. "So you're not only, eh?" said the man while trying to fire back at Charles. Charles took cover behind a flipped metal table. "Stop firing, stop firing!" said Lewis, waving Charles to cease fire.

After a few seconds, the firing stopped. "Why Lewis? The man's a UIA infantry." said Charles while carefully peeking out of the table. "Don't worry, I'm not going to shoot you, if you people announce your intentions here." the UIA soldier said, putting the gun down. "Just the two of you here?" he asked, and Lewis nodded, "Yeah, we're just here to find someone. How about you? Only by yourself here?"

The soldier nodded in return, "Yep, some of them retreated, others, dead. So I guess I'm the only one left, until you guys came here. Who are you guys going to find anyway?" Lewis scratched his head, "It's kind of complicated, we're... trying to rescue a prince. Some poachers kidnapped him and we followed their tracks, until it led us to this place."

"A prince?! Didn't know the commanders kept a person of royalty here, but I think the prisoners are not here anymore." Charles raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"The guys who attacked us, the German SturmTruppen, released all of our human prisoners. Don't know about the others though."

"What do you mean others?" asked Charles, "The non-human captives, you know, like animals, specifically lions." the soldier responded.

"Where are they located?" Lewis asked, the _soldat_ rubbed his chin before answering "Ah... Now I remember, it's on the other doorway of the lab just outside of this armory. But the cells are locked, needs a special key."

"Where's the key?" asked Charles. "It's at the Main Scientist Supervisor's officer, I know where it's at. But, you guys have to do me one favor."

"What is it?" Lewis asked. "You guys probably passed the mess hall, right?" asked the man, they both nodded "Okay, I'll give you the key for the office if you guys get the box containing the rations. Here's the key for the lock of the storage of the boxes." the soldier said, giving them the key, while giving them the 'I'm watching you' expression. "Remember, I trust you guys with these. So you better not waste my trust."

Lewis and Charles went to the mess hall, looking for the storage of the rations, "Check the kitchen." suggested Lewis. Charles went into the kitchen to see, stoves, utensils, ovens, ingredients, and the last, a locked storage with a sign reading: **Rations**. "Found it." Charles shouted in an audible volume. "Here's the key" Lewis said while handing him the key. He unlocked the storage and opened it, four boxes of rations lay in it. "There's the rations, let's get it. We'll bring one each, and return to get the remaining boxes."

"You guys got it, wonderful. Here's my promise." the soldier said, throwing the key card to Charles. He managed to catch it, "Where's the office anyway?" asked Lewis, "It's located at the right side of the front desk, opposite to the doorway leading to the offices."

They followed the soldier's directions, a spacious room with two disabled turrets, ahead of it, a futuristic-style metal door with another sign displaying: **Main Supervisor's officer**. They used the key card given to them, it managed to open. The metal door opened with a hiss, beyond it a shiny, white office, unlike the dirty officers they passed through while ago.

"Check the desk." Lewis said, while looking at some drawers to find the key. Charles searched through the desk, a laptop computer on it. He tried to open the laptop, and surprisingly, it worked.

 **Welcome Back Supervisor**

 **Reactivating computer system**

 **Activation complete**

Several texts appeared on the computer after opening it.

 **Experiment Report 1**

 **Experiment Report 2**

 **Experiment Report 3**

 **Messages from: Central Command of the African Continent**

He clicked the first report

 **Experiment Report 1**

 **Year: 2072 A.D.**

 **Specimen:** _ **Panthera leo**_

 _ **Subspecie: Masai Lions/ East African Lions**_

 _ **July 26, 2072**_

 _ **New specimens of lions arrived, two male and four female. Observation and testing began.**_

 _ **August 15, 2072**_

 _ **New pride of lions located in a mountain discovered, observation groups sent to study them.**_

 _ **August 26, 2072**_

 _ **Three teams of hunters sent to capture the pride alive for study. Two mercenaries from the OverEye industries, were hired to assist the teams.**_

 _ **September 17, 2072**_

 _ **Continue experimentation on the pride of lions on a large L-shaped rock. A human was spotted on the rock in close contact with the lions, identity of the person unknown.**_

 _ **October 10, 2072**_

 _ **Human-like behaviour were noticed again on the lions.**_

 _ **October 30, 2072**_

 _ **The three teams along with the mercenaries returned, with the captured pride alive. Observation and experimentation shall start next week.**_

 _ **November 12, 2072**_

 _ **Aging process of lions slowed down slightly, estimated age length of the lions were from 40-50 years old.**_

He checked the drawer of the desk, a special lock on it, like a lock for a card. He slide the lock using the key card, a beep came from it before unlocking the drawer. He opened the drawer and rummaged through it, He found another key card, inscripted on it, **Specimen cells**. "I think I found it." He said while showing Lewis the card. "Let's go back to the lab."

They went back to the lab, passed through the same scanning process again, and went to the other doorway, a key card lock on it. Charles used the key card again, the door opened. Inside it were a hallway of cells on both sides.

"Simba!" shouted Charles, it echoed through the hallway. "Charles! Is that you?" a voice asked, it came from cell number 4. "Yes, we're here to get you." he used the keycard again, the metal door hissed while it opened.

A golden lion cub was inside the cell, it was Simba. "Charles! Lewis!" He ran towards the two and embraced them, "I missed you so much, how did you find me?" asked Simba, "We followed the tracks of those who kidnapped you." But before they could get out, Simba stopped them. "Wait, there are other lions here. We need to help them." Simba begged them to help the other captive lions. "Alright, we just need to release them all from the cell." He unlocked the next cells until he stopped at the second to the last. He opened it, a lioness was lying on the ground. She snarled at Charles when she saw him, but when Simba jumped in front of him, the lioness stopped. "Simba." she happily said, and nuzzled him. "Who is she?" Charles whispered to Simba, wondering who is the young lioness "I forgot to introduce you to her, Charles, this is Alayna, Alayna, this is Charles."

"Hello Alayna, nice to meet you." said Charles, "Nice to meet you too, sorry for the hostile first impression. Thought you were one of those other humans here."

After freeing all the lions, they gave their thanks to the two humans for freeing them.

The lions started talking with each other and chitchatting here and there, most of them lionesses. Until a huge male lion came, which made the other lionesses quiet, then they bowed at him. The lion walked towards Charles and Lewis, then he smiled and spoke, "Thank you for freeing us, may I ask what are your names?" asked the male lion. "My name's Charles and his Lewis."

He nodded before speaking "Charles and Lewis, I must thank both of you for freeing me and my pride. My name is King Jawara, leader of the Pride of the Eastern Mountain." The name of the male lion sparked a familiarity in Charles' mind, they both bowed before Charles spoke "King Jawara. I remember king Mufasa mentioning about you before."

"So I see you two know King Mufasa?" They both nodded, "We live in his pride."

"Hey you guys rescued the prince yet..." The soldier was cut off mid-sentence at the huge amount of lions in front of him, before yelping in fear "Oh ho! That's a lot of lions. What are you guys doing?!" he shouted at the two of them, which startled the lions and made them bare their teeth at him.

"We rescued him already, meet prince Simba." Charles said while showing him the young prince. "Hello." Simba simply said, hiding behind Charles legs. The soldier looked at him in a confused and bewildered way, "The prince is a lion cub?! And it talks?!" Lewis nodded "I know this is crazy, but it's true." The soldier looked at the lions nervously, "Uhhh...Can you guys stop them from looking at me angrily?"

"King Jawara, can you please order your pride to cut off the hostility?"

"Why? This man is one of the humans who kept us in this prison." King Jawara sternly said, a neutral expression in his face.

"He may be one of them, but he helped us in liberating you and your pride from this facility." After Charles explained to them on how they managed to free them, the king's former expression ceased and turned into a warm smile. "If that is true, then I must thank you. "

After knowing that he helped Charles and Lewis in freeing them from their prison cells, the other lions gave their gratitudes to him.

"Now that you two have rescued the prince... I'm out of here." The soldier quickly walked out of the prison area.

"So how are we going to get out of here?" asked Alayna.

"We know the way out." The pride of lions followed them to the exit of the facility.

Charles saw the soldier again in a cluster of trees, waving them to come here"Stay here, we'll be right back." The group of lions complied and stayed in courtyard.

They went in the garage, a few tools and equipment for vehicle repair lay in the garage, a storage wagon, and a vehicle covered by cloth, the vehicle was very short in height. "I want to show you guys something very interesting." He said pulling off the cloth, revealing a modified Stug III. Both of them were surprised and fascinated at the world war two-era tank destroyer. "Woah...a Sturmgeschütz iii."

He nodded "My ancestors used this assault gun during the Finnish-Russian Continuation War. After more than 50 years, my father and grandfather managed to find the one used by the father of my great grandfather. And how did they managed find it?" He pointed towards some words inscripted on it, _Kommari Metsästäjä._

"My family were anti-communists for a long long time. But in my opinion, I like the idea of communism, it's just ruined by greed and corruption. Many people tried it, and they failed." He said, while attaching the storage wagon to the back of the Stug and climbing it.

"Please open the gates." He said, while hopping into the tank destroyer. We pushed the gate open for the stug, the engine of the tank destroyer howled while moving out of the garage. They moved towards the exit of the complex, where the lions were waiting.

The lions looked at the tank destroyer with curiosity and fascination. "We're ready to go?" asked king Jawara.

Lewis nodded, "Yes, your Majesty."

They now began their walk to the pridelands. The soldier slowed down the speed of the Stug so that the lions could catch up.

"Hey, wanna hop in?" He said, reaching a hand towards the two. They climbed up the Stug and went in it. The interior of the tank destroyer was less tight than Charles expected, he did notice a few things were missing, like the ammunition of the main gun.

The whole ride was quite for a few minutes, until the soldier decided to break it. "I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Conrad Virtanen. I am of Finnish and Polish descent. I was born in Helsinki, Finland, March 21, 2041. Me and my family moved to the city of Vantaa in the year of 2057, can't remember the specific date." He said, and showing his dog tags, his full name written on it, _Conrad Sierzant Virtanen._

"Now that I told you about myself, it's time for you guys to tell something about yourselves. You first." He said, looking at Charles.

"Okay... Name's Charles Williams Harrison. I was born in Portsmouth, England, still currently living in Portsmouth. My father's British-German and my mother's full British, and I have 3 siblings."

"Next, you, the Royal Air Force pilot." He said, now looking towards Lewis.

"I'm Lewis Powell Clarke. I was born in Salisbury, England, May 23, 2047. Both of my parent's are full British and I have a younger brother. Me, and my brother now live in Southhampton, South East England."

"So both of you are British. Alright, nice to meet you two." Conrad reached out a hand as a handshake to both of them. They accepted the handshake and after that, silence again for the trip.

That is, until Charles decided to ask Conrad a question, "So how did you end up in UIA?"

Conrad took a while before responding, "It was during the year of 2069, a year after the signing of an alliance between the UIA and Finland **[6]**. I was doing my usual maintenance of the Stug. A regiment of the UIA arrived to Vantaa, Finland to meet the locals, and perhaps, gain a few recruits from them. I was one of them. They visit my family's house and searched around for any communist sympathizers **[7]**. They saw the modified Stug III, and what I assume is the captain, was fascinated at it. After that, he asked if I was interested in joining them. It took me a few months before finally joining them. I went through the basic training of the UIA infantryman until I was assigned as a combat engineer."

"How was your experience in the UIAF?" asked Lewis, Conrad shrugged. "It was decent, the food and the rations were good and tasty. The facilities were neat."

"About how your father and grandfather finding your great great grandfather's Stug III. How did they know it was the one he operated during the Continuation War?" asked Charles. Conrad opened a box and took out a photo, showing it to them. The photo contains a man wearing the uniform of a tank crewman sitting on top of a Stug, along with 3 other men standing in front of it. He pointed towards the man on top of the 'Sturmi'.

"That's the father of my great grandfather, Curt Virtanen. The other three men were part of his crew throughout the war." He let them take a closer look at the photo before returning it back to the box.

"Other than being an engineer, do you have any other roles in the outpost?" Lewis asked. "I was also the secondary quartermaster and the assistant cook in the mess hall. There were a few benefits in joining the UIA though, I was able to access a wide array of parts and modifications for the Stug."

And then, silence again throughout the trip. After four hours, they noticed the sun setting down, so they decided to set up camp in a desirable spot. They found an open field with some trees and a small pond.

"This looks like a great spot for resting, you and your pride can now take a rest sire." Lewis said while jumping down the Stug. "Thank you Lewis, you can now take your rest as well."

Charles decided to help the lionesses to hunt for the pride, "How do you humans hunt?" asked Alayna while walking beside him. "We don't have claws, so we make weapons and tools for us to hunt and fight." He said, showing his rifle, "This is one of our most effective weapons, the rifle."

"I remember the other humans guarding the prison having those, but I didn't saw how they use it." She hopped over a small boulder, "Do you use that to fight humans as well?"

"Depends, so far, I haven't encounter any hostile ones. But if there's any, I could use it to defend myself."

They finally found prey, a herd of gazelles grazing in a field of grass. They crouched low and began moving towards the herd carefully.

"Interesting..." Conrad took out his personal binoculars and looked through it.

Then, several lionesses moved out of their cover and began chasing the gazelles, while the other lionesses were to flank and intercept them. A lioness managed to grab on a gazelle, she bit it in the neck, causing it to stumble and fall. The lioness was luckily safe. Charles aimed at one of the gazelles coming towards him, who didn't notice the human aiming at it. He took the shot, he managed to hit the gazelle in the neck. The lionesses heard the loud gunshot, which made some of them cover their ears. It fell down, blood dripping from its neck.

"What was that?"

"It fell that fast?!"

"Nice shot Charles!" Conrad praised while peeking through his binoculars.

Those were some of the questions and murmurs from the lionesses. After successfully hunting two gazelles, they carried the carcass back just in time for supper.

After finishing their food, the lions find their own place to rest, and perhaps talk with each other and have a nice chat before sleeping.

Charles finished his food, a lioness decided to approach him. When he noticed her, he realized she was the queen and mate of the king, Queen Jaha. He stood up and bowed to her, "Good evening your highness, what's the problem?"

She gave a smile before speaking, "Please, no need for the formalities. I just want to thank you for helping us."

"Your welcome." He smiled then he stood down "Do you need anything else?"

"Well...If you need any help, you can visit us anytime. That's all, goodnight."After that, she left and return to his mate. "Good night to you too."

After the conversation with the queen, he decides to see what Conrad and Lewis are doing.

Conrad was cleaning the wagon he attached behind the Stug. "What's in that wagon?" asked Lewis, he finished cleaning the wagon and set the wet cloth aside. "I took as much guns and weapons I could get from the armory, and the rations you and Charles took."

"How many?" Lewis asked, leaning on the side of the tank destroyer. "Wanna see?"

Conrad went to the rear door of the wagon and opened it, revealing a stash of weapons and ammunition.

"That's a lot of guns right there." Charles whistled at the sight of it. "Pretty impressive." Said Lewis.

Conrad entered the wagon and took a long time box, he opened it and took out a long sabre from it "This is a Polish hussar _Szabla,_ found it stored in my maternal grandfather's house in Warsaw, Poland."

"So that means one of your ancestors is probably a Polish winged hussar, awesome." Charles said, looking at a RK **-** 68 **[8].**

"Maybe, maybe not. Who knows, maybe it came from an antique auction sale." He looked at his watch, **9:27.**

"I think it's time for all of us to call it a night." Conrad said while going back to his Stug. "Good night."

"Good night to you too." Lewis yawned, "Good night Charles." He took out his sleeping bag from his duffel bag and placed it under a canopy Conrad set beside the tank destroyer.

While Conrad slept in the tank destroyer and Lewis underneath the canopy, Charles decides to sleep under a tree.

He was lying down at his sleeping bag, looking at the dark sky filled with stars. He still did not feel like sleeping yet, so he started stargazing.

"Hello Charles, may I lie down here?" Alayna asked, a smile on her face. "Sure, no problem."

"So...You don't have other lions to talk with in your pride?" She shook in response, "I'm not from his pride, but I do know a few fellow lionesses in king Jawara's pride." This confused Charles, "So you're a nomadic one?"

"No, I was raised by humans." Alayna said, cleaning her paws. "Until I was kidnapped by those masked men. But I'm not here to talk about that. About the rifle, that was pretty cool and dangerous at the same time. How did you do that?"

He scratched his head. _How do I explain this to a lioness..._

He decided to make it simple. He showed her the firing mechanism and how they shoot it, explaining about the bullet which is fired from the barrel of the gun.

"Oh...Okay, now I get it. So other than the use of hunting and fighting, what else do you use it for?" asked Alayna, curiosity in her eyes.

"That's pretty much the only reasons we used this. But others used it for bad intentions, that's why it's best if you avoid other humans holding these." She nodded, "Okay." She then yawned. "I think it's time for us to take a nap."

"You're right." He set his sleeping bag down and slid under the covers of it. "Good night."

"Good night Charles."

* * *

 **If there's any mistakes in my Finnish language, please correct it. I bet you guys saw the new cover image, sorry I can't find any models with short sleeve shirts. And no, _das ist_ not the priderock, just some random rock formation.**

 **Information:**

 **[1] Central Command of the UIA African Regions**

 **[2] The German SturmTruppen(English: StormTroops) are elite soldiers of the Deutsche Heer, inspired by the WW1-era German specialist units, the SturmTruppen/ StossTruppen. The creation of the CoN's secret elite force, the SchöckTruppen, were helped by several StormTrooper commanders. Trained for Urban, Jungle, Arctic, Mountain warfare, and counter-terrorism, the StormTroopers were one of the most effective units of the German Army.**

 **There are several types of SturmTruppen units, which are:**

 **(Depending on the size of the units, either a fireteam, squad, platoon, company, battalion or a regiment)**

 **Assault Teams- Tasked for raids on enemy/hostile establishments, fortifications, or buildings. It consists of a leader, riflemen, and Machine gun crew.**

 **Infantry Support Teams- These either supports a regular infantrymen or an assault team. Consists of the leader, riflemen, mortar crews(Usually 4-6 mortars), Mg operators/crew, a sniper/reconaissance team, an Anti-tank team, and occasionally, a _Flammenwerfer_ team.**

 **Tank Hunter teams- Specially trained for taking out tanks, they were widely known after the UIA invasion of Germany in the year of 2078 for taking out more than 100 tanks and armored vehicles of the UIA. A famous battalion, leaded by _Oberstleutnant_ Gottfried 'Jaeger' Kolbe, have 73 confirmed kills of UIA armored vehicles.**

 **SturmPanzers- SturmTrupp trained as tank crewmen. They were one of the first tankers to operate the experimental tanks of Germany(i.e. Kpfpz. KriegTiger I). One of the SturmPanzer tank ace, Heinz Shirmer, knocked out nine UIA Strv 68 battle tanks before his tank was disabled by anti-tank artillery in the Defense of Berlin, May 1, 2079.**

 **(Not to be confused with the CoN's SchöckTruppen or the Star Wars Imperial Stormtroopers)**

 **[3] International Liberation Front is an organized terrorist organization founded by a man named Aman Antoun, January 13, 2030. It's presence and influence became stronger in the Middle East, America, Africa, and Europe in the year 2031. It began committing minor bombings and shootings across America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. Its first attack in a shooting in a mall in London, England on June 15, 2032. Several armed ILA militants attacked the mall, killing 4 policemen and 36 civilians. The UNAF and the government of the UK responded by sending an UNAF quick-response force and SWAT teams to eliminate the militants, one was captured and interrogated. After the deadly attack, the UN recognized the ILA as a dangerous organization and declared war on the organization. The first battle between the UNAF and ILA took place in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, July 8, 2032. The war between the UN and the ILA ended in March 16, 2042 when the last high-ranked leader was assasinated in the city of Kunduz, North Afghanistan.**

 **(I'll just simplify the casualties, too long to list them all)**

 **casualties:**

 **UNAF: 673,578**

 **ILA: 700,000+**

 **civilians: 600,000+**

 **[4] New Order of Luddites is an anti-technology terrorist organization created by several anti-techology extremists. One of they're major attacks is the attack on the Munich Science Complex, killing 106 scientist and professors, 20 civilians and 6 security guards. The result of the attack destroyed several science inventions, researches, experiments and data that could've advanced the progress of Science, and killing several important researchers and scientists as well. The last leaders of the NOL was killed in the city of Cairns, Australia.**

 **(They're not really Luddites though)**

 **[5] The appearance of a standard UIA soldier. They didn't use much helmet/headgear until the new UIA Supreme Leader replacing Alexander Gianopolous, Supreme Leader Gustav** **Stålhammar, issued tactical helmets for the standard infantrymen.**

 **Term Length of Alexander Gianopoulus: 2074-2081**

 **Term Length of Gustav Stålhammar: 2081-2097**

 **[6] Basic Information about the Ak-25:**

 **Name:** _ **Avtomat Kalashnikov**_ **2025**

 **Place of origin: Russia**

 **Type of Firearm: Assault Rifle**

 **Manufacturers: Kalashnikov Concern**

 **Cartridge: 7.62x39mm**

 **Feed System: 50 rounds**

 **[7] UIA despised communists, a big example is their executions of communists in countries it occupies.**

 **Fun fact: The ideology the UIA has are slightly similar communism, but they renamed it as Ideal Unionist Communism, or shortened as Ideal Unionism, to separate it from communism. Named after the Theory of Ideal Unionism-Communism, a theroy created by former Supreme Leader Anthonius Stålhammar. (Term length: 2045-2061)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Goodday/evening! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter! Das ist alles.**

 **-Hauptmann 'Nuker'850**

 **Darth Cody: I think I got what you mean, you're implying about Hondo Ohnaka from Star Wars? I almost forgot about his name, since I rarely care about the pirates.**

* * *

 **Charles' POV**

"Hey...Hey..." A deep European voice rang through my ears.

"Hey, Charles. Wake up." A man tapped my shoulder, I opened my eyes slowly. Revealing it to be Conrad. "It's time to go."

It's still early in the morning, with the sun beginning to rise. "Why? It's still early, the sun's not even up yet." He leaned

"The more early we leave, the more early we can get to the Pridelands you're talking about." Charles still didn't stand up from his sleeping bag, so he pulled it with Charles still in it. "Hey! What are you doing?!" Charles tried to grab anything that could stop the dragging, "You can sleep later on the trip."

Charles finally gave up and complied, "Alright, just please stop pulling me." He released the sleeping bag and went off to the Sturmi. I rolled the sleeping bag and tucked it into my bag. After making sure everything's inside it, I continued my walk back to the Stug.

The lions were all relaxing in the shade, probably waiting for us humans to finish what we were doing. Since everything's already in my bag, I went to join them. "Good morning Charles!" Simba greeted, playing with the other cubs of the pride.

"Good morning to you too, Simba." I sat on a boulder and setting down my bag beside it. I see Lewis and Conrad trying to fix the canopy, and they certainly looked like they need help. I went on to see what's going on.

* * *

 **Third Person View**

"Just roll the tarpaulin, there that's it." Conrad said while trying to disassemble a metal rod. "Good morning." greeted Charles, "Good morning." the two responded. "You're just in time Charles, quick, can you help us?" asked Conrad.

"Yeah, sure. What should I do?" Charles asked, "Please bring my security equipment back to the wagon." Conrad said, pointing to his 'security equipment'. An infantry trophy system, three deployable motion sensors, and a mini automatic defense turret, "Alright." He went for the trophy system first, which is supported by a tripod. He retract the tripod of the trophy system and lift it up, he was surprised at how light it was, since it was made of metal.

After placing the trophy system back to the storage wagon, he went for the motion sensors next, then lastly, the defense turret. He was sweating and panting from the carrying, especially from the heavy defense turret. Conrad returned the canopy back to the wagon and went back to the tank destroyer.

"We're ready to go." He started the engine, the loud noise of it attracting the lions' attention. "So where's the way to this prideland you're speaking of?"

"Go West." Conrad raised an eyebrow, "Trust me." Charles assured him.

Conrad shrugged, "Okay, then West we go."

After 2 days and 1 night, we finally arrived at the pridelands.

The sun shined through the priderock, creating a large shadow for its height. "That, is one huge rock. " Conrad was in awe at the sight of the L-shaped rock, where the pridelanders live. "We're here." Charles cheered, "Finally." He looked right towards the loader seat, where Lewis was sleeping.

"So...Are this pridelanders you're saying about, are they humans? Or are they talking lions too?"

"You'll see, let's get closer to the priderock." Charles pointed towards the huge L-shaped rock. He stepped the gas pedal, the Sturmi shook before moving towards the priderock. A blue hornbill spotted the tank destroyer with the pride of lions in tow, recognizing King Jawara and his mate among them. He flew back to the priderock.

They stopped near a slope leading up to the cave in the priderock. The hornbill flew out of the cave with a Red-maned lion, several lionesses following him. Charles and Lewis, now awake, climbed out of the Stug to meet them.

The male lion, upon seeing the two humans, smiled. And seeing his son behind them, he smiled wider.

"Son!"

"Dad!"

The two ran towards each other and embraced, having not seeing each other for a week.

"Your mother and I were worried of you, who knew what those poachers could've done to you." Simba's expression was of regret. "Sorry dad, I shouldn't have gone too far from the pridelands."

"It's okay, no need for apologizing. Now let's go back, your mother and the others might be returning from their hunt." Before heading up to the den, Simba went to Charles and nuzzled their legs. "Thanks for helping me, Charles, Lewis." He then ran to his friends, who were incredibly happy to see him back.

Mufasa smiled and turned back towards the two humans, "And what I heard from Zazu, King Jawara's with you?"

"Mufasa, long time no see." A black-maned lion came from the rear of the grey Stug. Mufasa approached him and gave a friendly hug, "Jawara, I haven't hear anything from you for months. What happened?"

"We got kidnapped by a group of hunters, just like your son. Fortunately, the three humans rescued us from our prison." Mufasa was glad that they rescue King Jawara and his pride, but was confused at the _third human_ he mentioned.

"Wait, a third human? So Charles and Lewis aren't the only one?" asked Mufasa, slightly confused.

"I believe I'm the third hooman you're speaking of." A man with a European accent said, it came from a man standing on top of the StuG.

"Name's Conrad Virtanen. Combat Engineer of the 55th Pioneers Platoon. Good day, your highness!" He bowed and hopped off the tank destroyer.

"This is Conrad, he helped us in freeing Prince Simba and King Jawara's pride from the prison."

Mufasa smiled "Thank you all for saving my son, now let's get back to the den. The hunters are probably returning soon."

Now at the den, Simba, the other cubs, and king Jawara's pride entered. Mufasa stopped the three humans from entering, "Before we enter the den, I must show you something. You two may go ahead."

"As you wish." Lewis gestured Conrad to follow him to the cave.

"Follow me." Mufasa led Charles to the back of the priderock, the king moved the bush away and revealed an obviously misplaced boulder on it. He pushed it aside, a dark cave entrance behind it. "Do you have any light source with you?" asked Mufasa, Charles pulled out a flashlight. "Yep."

The path led down deeper into the cave, "So, what exactly are we doing here?" Mufasa stopped walking, so he stopped as well. He point the flashlight forward, Charles eyes widened as a tactical barrier was deployed in front of them. How did it get here? He thought, it was mostly used by special forces and military.

"Hmmm...I forgot he placed this in front of the entrance. Do you know how to open this?" asked Mufasa. Charles tried to pull it down from its upper part, no use. "Looks like its locked tight. So what's in there?"

"I'll show you when we get in there." This made Charles curious, and determined to know what Mufasa's hiding beyond it. He then remembered about Conrad's storage wagon, he might've some tools to breach or open a barrier. "I'll ask Conrad if he has any tools or equipment that can be used for opening this defense barrier." Mufasa nodded, "Sure. We should head back now, the pride probably noticed we've been gone for a while."

They returned to the priderock just in time to see the hunters return, Sarabi hugging her son. "I'm glad you're safe." He looked at the three humans and smiled, "Thank you all for rescuing our son."

"You're welcome my queen, we just want to make sure Simba's safe from his captors." answered Lewis. The queen turned her attention towards the new human. "And may I know who is our new guest?" she asked, putting a friendly smile. "I'm Conrad Virtanen, combat engineer of the UIA 55th Pioneers Platoon. It's a pleasure to meet you...Your highness." He bowed after introducing himself.

"Now that this is all finished, please come join us in our afternoon meal." Mufasa said.

After finishing their lunch, the lions decides to relax in the den and have some conversations.

"Where are you going?" asked Charles, when Conrad stood up and walked out of the den. "I'm just wondering is there a place where I could park my StuG safely, and somewhere to hit the sack?"

"We got a bunker with some trees for covering the vehicle." Said Lewis standing up as well, going for the exit with Conrad.

"Do you guys need any help?" Asked Charles. Lewis shook his head, "Nah, we're just gonna bring the tank destroyer to the bunker, we'll be back shortly." Now that leaves only a few lionesses and cubs, King Mufasa and Jawara went out to take a walk.

With nothing to do, Charles decides to check his water supplies. He took out his water bottles, which were empty. "Charles, do you have any place to drink? I'm kinda thirsty." asked Alayna.

Charles stood up and took his bag with him. "Follow me." Charles led her to the waterhole, where the pride and other animals quench themselves with water. Giraffes and zebras were lingering in nearby the waterhole.

"Thanks." Alayna said, while drinking water from the pool. "No problem. Whenever you feel thirsty you can just come here to drink." He said, filling his bottles with water to filtrate. Alayna's ears twitched, she raised her head and looked at a patch of tall grass. He noticed her glaring towards it and then turned into a fighting stance, making him looked towards the grass as well.

He tried to reach for his rifle, except that the rifle wasn't with him. He looked around for it, he might've forgotten it at the priderock.

He cursed himself for not bringing it. Then, rustles came from the tall grass.

* * *

 **(Sorry for the cliffhanger) I'm so sorry for not updating for a long time, again. The good thing is, a ton of ideas are starting to pop up in my mind. The only disadvantage is, how to convey them. And I want to try to avoid a lot of cliches (I probably have a lot of them, aren't I?).**

 **Information:**

 **Hmmmm... Nothing much.**

 **Additional information that I might have forgotten at the last chapter:**

 **1\. The Peace alliance between Finland and the UIA was signed on March 18, 2068 in the capital of Finland, Helsinki. The signing of the alliance was in the Presidential Palace, both the president of Finland and Supreme Leader Basilius. A few months after the alliance, UIA outposts were established in the cities and borders of Finland for defense and law enforcement.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Good day! …..I don't really have much to say... That's all.**

 **A reply to Gabriel: I'll think about it, but I do have an idea similar to that.**

* * *

Noises came from the grass, which made Charles frantically search for a weapon. He opened his bag and searched through it, he then felt something heavy. He pulled it out, it was the P59 pistol. _Yes!_

He checked the clip and reinserted it. He aimed the gun at the tall grass, his hands shaking from agitation.

Suddenly, a claw swiped at one of Alayna's hind legs, which made her growl in pain. Surpised by the attack, she jumped away from the bush. He turned towards where the claw came from, aiming the pistol. More rustles came from the bush, a humanoid figure stepped out of it.

Charles eyes widened, the person resembled a human, but with pale, blistered skin. His eyes were glowing yellow. It groaned in an eerie way, rambling around the two. Its glowing yellow eyes staring at them.

"What is that Charles?" whispered Alayna. "I had no idea." It was something he never seen before, but the blisters on its arms looked familiar.

"We're here." said Lewis, stopping at a bunker surrounded by trees. Conrad stopped the tank destroyer at the side of it, and exit the StuG while Lewis opened the door. "Right this way."

The place was a lot tidier since Lewis and Charles started cleaning up the whole bunker. The furnitures are arranged properly, crumpled and scattered papers are thrown and returned to their drawers, and the bunk beds are neatly organized.

"Not bad." Conrad said, he took a small wooden box. He opened it and pulled out a flag of the UIA, hanging it on the wall. This made Lewis glared at Conrad, who stared back at him. "What? Oh..." Conrad said, forgetting that their both enemies. "No, no, no. It's okay, there's no need to remove it."

Conrad went out of the bunker, while Lewis stayed in order to refill his water canteen. He finished refilling it when he heard a slow beeping noise outside. "The heck is that..."

He sees Conrad attaching a metal device to the wall outside of the bunker, revealing it to be the source of the noise. Conrad then took out a wire and pulled it back into the bunker, attaching it to the computer system.

"What is that?" asked Lewis. "An Infected Detection device, detects any 'infected' for about 50 kilometers." After opening the computer, he clicked a icon in the screen. A window pops up, displaying the words: **Enable Infection Detection Software? Yes No**

Conrad clicked yes, resulting the application to turn into a radar-like map. "Wonderful, we're now safer against any hordes of infected. Not fully safe against them,but at least we'll be prepared."

"So, you guys encountered them?" asked Lewis, apparently knowing about this whole 'Infected' virus.

Conrad took a chair and sat down, and so did Lewis. "I haven't, but some of the men in my platoon did. They said they're like zombies, some of the deceased, after exposing to the _'Plague',_ reanimated into mindless flesh-eating monsters, just like the zombies in the movies. You know what I mean?"

Lewis nodded, looking at the radar map. "What are those different colors indicating?" He said, pointing at the various-colored dots on the corner of the map. Conrad took out a small booklet and flipped a few pages "Ah, those indicate the types of Infected. Yellow means a Level-1 type of zombie, I'm just gonna use the word zombie. The Level-1s are like the slow-walking shamblers. Blue means a Level-2 zombie, slow-walking but its skin is harder than the Level-1 zombies. Reds are Level-3 zombies, they can run and their endurance is nearly the same as the Level-1 Infected. And the Purple color means Infectors, these types have very sharp claws and could infect an uninfected person with a bite."

"Do they have any weaknesses?" Conrad nodded, "Yeah, just a few bullets into the head and they're dead." Conrad said, imitating a gun with his finger. "Here, you could check out more about them on this booklet." He hand it to Lewis, who looks at the cover.

 **Isotope P-4653**

 **Written by Harold Cooper**

 **Co-written by Matthew Davis and Joel Arkwright**

"Wait...Matthew Davis. The name sounds familiar."

"Yeah, they're both veterans of the UNAF 108th Special Operations Company, they took part in the P-4653 Quarantine Containment **[1].** "

A fast beeping noise suddenly came from the computer screen, showing several yellow and blue blips on the radar. "What the...Oh no." Conrad immediately got off his seat and ran out to the storage wagon. He grabbed his Ak25 and looked around frantically. Lewis went out of the bunker as well, his carbine on his hands. They then heard a roar of pain, coming from the waterhole.

It just stared at the two, before it gave a loud screech. It ran towards Charles, exposing its sharp teeth at him. Charles shot him in the chest, stopping its running and flinched back. It screamed again, which made Charles fire his gun again. The shot managed to hit its neck, it collapsed and ceased to move. Blood started seeping out of its neck, its blood was darker than the usual color of human blood.

"It's dead?" Alayna sniffed the corpse, she recoiled in disgust at the intense, putrid smell. The smell reached Charles, making him back away from the corpse as well.

Just when they though it was over, 4 humanoids came out of the tall grass. Two of them were wearing tactical gear similar to Conrad's, while the others wear orange, teared prison garments.

"Get some help." Charles told Alayna, she ran towards the priderock. They started walking towards him slowly, moaning the same eerie noise.

"Charles, get the hell away from them!" Shouted Conrad, he fired his rifle at them. One got shot in the head, while the other Infected ran towards the humans. Charles shot one in the chest, not killing him but at least slowing him down. He fired again, it hit the abdomen. Collapsing in its knees, clutching its bleeding stomach.

Lewis took down 2 more of the Infected. Leaving the injured one left.

"Help." it groaned.

"Wha?!" Charles just stared at it, eyes wide. He was so stunned of the Infected speaking, that he wasn't able to react properly. _Should I shoot him?_ It's face were of pain and agony,

"Help..." It spoke again.

"Charles, what are you doing?!" Conrad shouted at him. "Shoot him!"

"Help me Charles, help me." It groaned in pain.

"He needs help, he's speaking..." Charles muttered, making Conrad and Lewis bewildered at what he just said. "Speaking?!"

"He's a mindless monster! Shoot him down." Charles aimed his pistol at it, the cries of his family returned to his mind. He shook his head, trying to ignore it.

He then heard a loud screech.

He pressed the trigger, hitting it in the chest. The bullet pierced through the chest, hitting the heart and killing it instantly.

The whole place was a mess, corpses laying down on the ground with blood seeping from them. Smoke came from the other Infected that got shot by Lewis' carbine, resulted by the intense heat of the pulse bolts. Conrad ran back to the bunker.

Minutes later, Conrad returned from the bunker with a large cloth. He examined the bodies of the Infected, he then looked at the corpses of three Infected in military uniform, his face was of sorrow and shock when he look at them.

"My poor comrades..." He took their dogtags and covered them with the cloth. "Lewis, can you help me get something from the wagon?" asked Conrad, Lewis nodded and followed him "Sure." He glanced at Charles, "Charles, you'll guard the bodies from any scavengers."

Conrad and Lewis returned with a shovel, they begin digging a large grave for the dead. Conrad rolled the cloth covering the bodies, carrying it and placing it into the grave. He grab a bundle of sticks and threw them into the grave. He took out a match book and a lighter, taking one matchstick out of the matchbox. He lit the matchstick, then threw it into the grave. The cloth began burning, smoke soared up to the sky.

The three stood in silence, Conrad's head hung low in the loss of his fellow men. After the fire died out, Conrad and Lewis grab the shovels and started burying the grave with dirt.

"Charles!" Alayna came back with several lionesses. "I got back from the priderock, we saw the smoke coming from the waterhole." They looked at the gravesite, "What happened?" The lionesses looked around, small trails of blood were still visible in the grass.

"Where did they went? Did you kill them?" asked Alayna. Charles and Lewis nodded.

"Yeah they're g-" Lewis was cut off by Conrad blocking the grave. "Yes it's secured now so please return back to the priderock." His voice sound agitated.

The two humans and the lionesses turned around heading for the priderock, Alayna then made a small whimper of pain. Charles remembered the wound she got from the zombies, he checked it to see the cuts still there. Bleeding slowly. He gasped, "Alayna! Why didn't you go to Rafiki?!"

"We tried to convince her, but she won't listen." Anaya said.

"Don't fuss about it too much, just want to see if you're still alright. I'll get myself treated after this." She reassured him of her injuries. They continued their walk, Lewis glanced around to see Conrad still standing in front of the grave.

"Conrad, You're not going back with us?" asked Lewis, Conrad looked back and respond, "I'll catch up later." then glanced back at the grave.

"So what did I miss?" asked Alayna.

"Conrad and Lewis managed to help me ward off those..." What were those anyway? The blisters on their arms looked familiar, but he just can't remember where he had seen that.

He decided to ask Lewis, he probably knew what those were "Hey Lewis, what are they? You know, those creatures we fought just while ago."

"...Those were a group 'Infected'." The term 'Infected', he once heard it from his father and uncle.

"Do you know something more about them?"

Lewis scratched his chin before answering, "From what I heard, they're like zombies. Just like zombies, they consume flesh and there's a specific type that infects other uninfected humans. That's all I know, Conrad has more knowledge about them."

Now that they're in fornt of the priderock, Charles and Alayna went to the other way while the rest went up the den.

"Come on Alayna, let's get you to Rafiki." They began heading towards the Rafiki's tree.

* * *

 **Dogtags Discovered!**

 **Dogtag 1**

 **Sgt. Agapios Adamos**

 **Male**

 **Greek**

 **256772**

 **B**

 **Dogtag 2**

 **Cpl. Baako Okonjo**

 **Male**

 **Cameroonian**

 **267445**

 **AB**

 **Dogtag 3**

 **Pvt. Ganizani Ademora**

 **Male**

 **South African**

 **289673**

 **B**

* * *

 **I'm so sorry again, for not being able to update. Anyway...I was trying to shorten the chapter in order to update more.**

 **Information:**

 **1\. The P-4653 is a highly complex bioweapon agent created by remnants of the ILA in * _location classified_ *, xx/xx/ 2037. The agent is temporarily airborne after release but could easily be cleaned, infection could occur via bites from an Infected. The hideout was attacked by UNAF special forces on xx/xx/2038, after hearing reports of ILA remnant activity on the mountains in _*location classified*,_ the same times as the isotope was'accidentally' released throughout the ILA facility. The UNAF 108th Special Operations Company, among them being Lieutenant Matthew Davis and Corporal Joel Arkwright, encountered the ILA insurgents and the infected subjects, where they called them "Infected". The first encounter of the bioweapon agents and its capabilites became known as the P-4653 Quarantine Containment, which has been kept secret by the UN, UIA and CoN, in order to prepare for a containment plan in case of a possible outbreak. That is until on the year of 2065, a man was seen in Portsmouth, England, with the same symptoms of the bioweapon agent. The Infected was shot by Ex-Royal Army veteran * _name deleted*_ and the carcass was extracted by Inquisitor units of the CoN, and covered up as a escaped convict. A few months after the incident, investigations led the police towards to the two veterans, where they interviewed them, unknowingly extracting secrets the UN tried to hide. After the secret was exposed by the investigators, the news spread slowly throughout the country. Several journalist and an author interviewed them, preventing the UN from successfully suppressing the disclosed secret.**

 **2\. Infected (AKA zombies, mutants), are the results of human subjects being exposed to Isotope P-4653. Their behaviour is similar to that of the zombies. The first symptoms are black blisters on the arms, the subject's skin would turn pale, then painful headaches would occur. After a few hours of the contact with the isotope, subject's behavior would become agitated, attacking any living subjects that are not infected with P-4653. After 2-3 days, the subject would grow small claws out of its hands. After 4 days, the infected subject's teeth would sharpen, capable of biting flesh through easily. After a week, the subjects eyes would turn to the shade of yellow, with a slight glow, it is still unknown as to what causes their eyes to glow. The type of Infected depends on the subjects health, i.e. a healthy subject would result into an Infected with higher endurance against physical and ballistic trauma.**

 **3\. Parts of the UIA dogtags: Rank & Full Name, Gender, Nationality, ID number, and blood group/type.**

* * *

 **Additional info that I forgot to add last chapter:**

 **I forgot to note that during the confrontation between Charles and Conrad, his rifle was attached with a suppressor. If it weren't for it, it would have been extremely loud since it's in a tight and indoor area, where Charles and Lewis might've hearing problems without proper ear protection.**


	14. Announcement-1

**HALT!** **Announcement: I've been thinking this for more than 3(or 4) weeks now, to override this whole story. Why? Because I felt like this doesn't seem right, either it's me running out of words to convey in the chapters or I just feel uncomfortable or _cringe_ when I read my fanfic. I may either refine some specific parts of the story and continue, or I may create a whole new different one. I've been having so much ideas for this story since 3 months ago. But if I'm going to create a new one, I _may_ continue this one, but note that I do not guarantee for it to happen. Anyway...Thanks for the support and interest for these story everyone! I hoped you enjoy it, at least most of it.**


	15. Chapter 14

Lewis walk back to the den, where the rest of the pride were resting. Xyrisse and some lionesses noticed them returning.

"Thank the kings you're safe. What happened Lewis?" She asked. "Don't worry I'm fine, " He assured her with a smile.

But Lewis' smile faded quickly "Except for Alayna though, got scratched by one of them. Charles accompanied her to Rafiki."

"So who attacked you?", Lewis was thinking, how could he explain this to a lioness? Not that he's thinking they're intellectually incapable of understanding what the Infected are. Oh no, no, they're intelligent enough to have names and speak in the English language. "Uhh... We got attacked by a group of what we call, 'Infected'. They look like us humans, but they have pale skin, blisters, claws and glowing eyes." He didn't realize until now that the other members of the pride, both cubs and adults alike, heard him talk about, curious about what happened.

"Can you tell us more about them?" asked Xyrisse, "Other than they're very hostile, it's best to avoid them. Just alert us whenever you see them."

Rafiki's place was a huge baobab tree, the first one for Charles to see. They climbed up the tree, leading into a huge room. Hand painting were all over a wall, most of the paintings consists of lions. "Cool, so who is Rafiki?" asked Alayna while looking at the paintings.

"He's a baboon and the shaman of this pride." Right after what he said, the baboon suddenly appeared from above, startling the two of them.

"Haha! If it isn't da human! What brings you here?" Charles showed her wound to Rafiki, letting his observe the cuts.

"Hmm...Ah, I know what to do with it." He went over to a small baobab shell, he then opened the half that's used as a cover, revealing a dark blue-colored paste. He took a handful of it and spread it around the wound. After that, he took a banana leaf and tied it around the injured area.

"There we go! You'll just need to rest your legs for about, one week."

Alayna gave a wide smile "Thank you Rafiki."

After treating her wounds, they set back for Priderock.

"Where do you come from?" she asked.

"Me? I came from England."

"England? I think I heard of that place before." She trailed off, trying to recall her memory. Much to Charles' surprise, _How does she know?_

"Aha! I heard if occasionally from my parents' conversations with each other." said Alayna. "Parents?"

She chuckled nevously "My...human parents. They're not my real parents but they're just as loving as a genuine one." She smiled warmly.

"So where are they now?" Alayna's smile disappeared. "I don't know, somewhere there, probably still searching for me." This made her ponder , _are they still trying to find me, or have they forgotten me?_

Seeing her frown, Charles tried to think of another subject to converse about.

"How long have you been in that place, if I may ask?"

"The prison? About 1 and a half week. Glad I won't be coming back to that place."

After the talk with the lions, Lewis went back to the bunker to check on Conrad. He hasn't been fully trusting the man, especially since he's a UIA soldier. An enemy.

He was now in at the bunker entrance, with his handgun ready.

He slowly opened the door, he peek through and saw Virtanen, typing something into the computer.

He stepped into the bunker, revealing himself. Conrad glanced sidewards and saw him.

"Just checking the computer system here, still working. Impressive."

He pressed a key, "It also has controls for a observation camera, this'll be useful."

"Is this about what happened while ago?" Conrad nodded, "Correct, we'll need to be a lot careful this time. Who knows how many are still out there. Might even have to make patrol routines around."

"We'll help you, Charles and I could change shifts everyday to accompany you."

"Thanks. I'll create a patrol route around the area." He took out his map, but there's something amiss. "So this is a kingdom of animals, led by a lion. Right?"

He slowly nodded, "Yes..."

"So how long does the border of this kingdom stretch? I wanna know, so I could set up a route."

"I'll just tour you around the area, Charles already did when I was new here."

"Sure, lead the way."

Lewis toured him through the borders around the pridelands, showing all kinds of animals, he showed a path to the Outlands, where the hyenas and other nasty creatures stay, he showed him the watering hole, they walked around the pridelands until they arrived at almost every area that's part of the Pridelands. On the way, Conrad set up a line of motion detectors and surveillance cameras.

"Thanks for the tour. I'll start at noon later, one patrol shift in the morning and another in late afternoon."

"What now?" asked Lewis.

Conrad looked at his watch, **1:57.**

"Looks like it's lunchtime." They head back towards the bunker.

On the way, Lewis decided to ask something, "You're from Finland right? Your country's know to have cold weather. So how did you get used to the heat here?"

"4 months of endurance. I'm even starting to get used to this. The evening's not so bad though, quite cold."

They walked through the edge of the forest, where the bunker was.

Lewis plopped down on a chair, while Conrad explored the rest of the bunker. He found a green weapons crate, he opened it to only find it empty. He searched for the labelling of the crate, and found it on the front side, **SMLE No. 1, 7.62mm**. It was a marksman rifle commonly used by the UIA during the 2050-60s. Now replaced by the newer models.

"Ah this must be the rifle Charles is using. Decent rifle." He stood up and continued his walk around the bunker.

The bunker door opened and came in Charles, "I'm back, are there that happened while we're gone?"

"We established a patrol route around the Pridelands. We're gonna have 1 hour shifts everyday." And from that day, the security of the Pridelands have to be tightened. With the possible nearby presence of Infected, it is an absolute threat to the pride of Lions here.

He was very frustrated, his plan's now failed. Because of those damn humans! And now there's another human in the Pridelands.

How did they rescue him?!

He kicked a small rock, it flung to the wall and bounced.

 _I need to think of another plan. This time, it needs to work._

 **I'm back! Sorry if the chapter's quite short, stay tuned for next chapter.**


End file.
